Transfer to a top flight club: most expensive U23s
The 539th Weekly Post presents the hundred U23 players not yet under contract with one of the ten most powerful clubs worldwide* with the top estimated transfer value according to the CIES Football Observatory’s statistical model. Juventus’s Turkish young star Kenan Yildiz is well ahead of the rest. His transfer could be worth up to €133 million (including add-ons and for 100% of transfer rights).
Inter Milan’s Italian Pio Esposito (€95 million) and RB Leipzig’s Ivorian Yan Diomandé (€84 million) round off the top three. The top five also includes Bayer Leverkusen’s Cameroonian Christian Kofane (€81 million) and Porto’s Danish midfielder Victor Froholdt (€80 million). All these players have contracts running until at least 2029, which strengthens the negotiating power of their respective clubs.
Twelve domestic competitions are represented in the top 100, with the English Premier League at the top (25 players), and the following top three: Paraguay’s Diégo Gómez (Brighton & Hove), Netherlands’ Xavi Simons (Tottenham) and France’s Junior Kroupi (Bournemouth). Behind Froholdt, the highest-rated players outside the big-5 are Vítor Roque (Palmeiras) and two other FC Porto’s footballers: Samu Aghehowa and Rodrigo Mora.
>>> Top 100
>>> Top valued player per club in 70 leagues
>>> New Prospect Sheet: Oskar Pietuszewski
* In alphabetical order : Arsenal, Atlético Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Paris St-Germain and Real Madrid.
