1 month ago
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Only four clubs
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There’s just under two weeks under the new Premier League season with excitement building ahead of the English top-flight season returning. The 2024/25 campaign was historic with Liverpool equalling Manchester United’s record of 20 titles and it’s poised to be another thrilling season. Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal have all strengthened heavily this summer and they are widely recognised as the three favourites for the Premier League crown.
The transfer window has dominated the headlines all summer with fans desperate for their clubs to add new signings. Transfermarkt is renowned for recording all the information and statistics for transfers, including accurate fees. Transfermarkt’s market values are also industry-recognised for providing guide valuations for how much players are worth in a free market. While Transfermarkt market values are not to be equated with transfer fees, they provide a prediction on what players could be sold by considering multiple factors. Therefore, we’ve analysed how many players in each Premier League squad possess market values higher than the club’s record sales.
PL clubs with players valued higher than record sales
Interestingly, only four Premier League clubs have any players with market values higher than their record sales. There are various factors behind this with the arguable aspect that English clubs are rarely under financial pressure to sell their star assets and can command exorbitant fees. This is exemplified by the fact that Newcastle are the only non traditional ‘big six’ club with any players valued in excess of €55m (4) but seven of those clubs’ record sales are higher than that total. As the graphic below illustrates, Arsenal have the most players in their squad with market values higher than their record sale of €38m. Remarkably, Arsenal have 15 players valued higher than the fee they received for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
While market values will naturally lead to debate, the reason why so many Arsenal players’ valuation’s surpass their record sale is the North London club have badly struggled to recoup significant fees for unwanted players - highlighted by Arsenal’s record sale being the third lowest of all current Premier League clubs. Newcastle United rank second with six players’ valuations being higher than Elliott Anderson’s €41m and this is primarily due to how much the Magpies have improved in recent seasons after investment. Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and Rodri’s market values are higher than Manchester City’s record sale of Julian Alvarez to Atletico Madrid last summer. Meanwhile, Phillippe Coutinho’s €135m move to Barcelona remains the record Premier League sale but Florian Wirtz, Liverpool’s marquee summer signing, is valued higher (€145m) than the fee the Reds received for the Brazilian.
