Barcelona have been shown silly by a recent media publication.
Barcelona return to La Liga action after a hiatus of nearly three months as they prepare for a trip to Mallorca over the coming weekend. Despite lingering doubts over their fitness, the South American duo of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez is expected to be fit and feature against the islanders in their 30th league outing of the elongated season.
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Heading into this week, there has been much optimism about the return of football and at the same time, the International Centre for Sport Studies, or the CIES Football Observatory as it’s abbreviated released a list of the world’s top 25 most valuable players and there was a major shock in the assessment, as noticed on Fox Sports.
Lionel Messi has failed to make the top 20 ranking in the list and as a result, he has fallen down to the 22nd position ahead of several other players. Kylian Mbappe being ranked first on the list is no surprise and the Frenchman valued at 260 million euros is the only player in the 200s range, Raheem Sterling being second at 194 million euros.
Barca have reason to be astounded over most rankings
Among the top ten, only Antoine Griezmann is the Blaugrana making the standings. The 29-year-old has a transfer worth of 136 million euros and it’s rather surprising to see so given the fact that he has not had a great year since switching from Atletico Madrid last summer. Coming on the twentieth rank, Frenkie de Jong closes out the list having a 102 million worth.
While most rankings make more sense than not, it’s absurd to see the defending Ballon d’Or holder in Messi to have been ranked 22nd and behind the likes of Liverpool ace Roberto Firmino or Manchester City’s defensive midfielder Rodri, who is not even the best in his position, let alone being one of the world’s best players overall.
Regardless of whether these values carry any consideration in the transfer market is unknown, but if anything, the fact that Lautaro Martinez is only worth 99 million euros could be used by the Catalans in their favour. Inter Milan are charging 110 million for him, more than 10% of his book value.
How much do you think Messi should be worth despite his age?