January 25 – Barcelona are the most efficient club in Europe’s Big 5 leagues when it comes to valuing their playing squads. Spurs are the second most efficient. In contrast Man Utd are 95th and PSG are rock bottom in 98th spot.
The analysis by the CIES Football Observatory looks at the value of top squads and the transfer fees spent to assemble them. As the CIES points out, “for the vast majority of teams, the gap is positive.” Just seven teams come up negative.
The authors say that teams at the top of the table are those that either train their own youth talent or focus on buying young talent – Spurs being the “perfect illustration of this strategy”.
Barca’s table topping performance is driven by the impact of Messi and Neymar. Messi cost €0 as a youth academy product and has risen to the current estimated transfer value of €170.5 million, while Neymar cost €87 million and is now valued at €246.8 million.
Source: CIES Football Observatory
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