The life of a footballer is a very complex one. One day you are the hero, the one who stole the show, everyone is asking about you, praising you, and the very next, no one wants to know who you are what you are doing, where you are going, or why you are going through what you are going. Life is cruel and it is worse for a footballer.
For all the love and adulation that a footballer gets for one good performance, there are a thousand more critics and a million more – so called fans – who want them to fail. They want but a chance to see the player stumble, to show any signs of weakness for that will allow them to take digs at you, aiming to unsettle you, aiming to hinder your confidence. Well, not much can be done about that, we live in that kind of a world.
£100 million transfer fees was a big thing in the past, not anymore and it won’t be long before we see the first £150 million player. So without further ado, we take a look at the players who have witnessed the highest change in transfer values:
[To make things even, we have included 5 footballers whose transfer value has dipped the most and 5 whose transfer value has increased astronomically. All values are based on www.transfermarkt.com]
#10 Radamel Falcao – AS Monaco (Jan 2016: €35 million, Now: €15 million)
Decrease in value: €20 million
Ever since Radamel Falcao suffered the knee ligament injury in his first season at Stade Louis II, his transfer value has steadily declined. The Colombian missed out on the World Cup of 2014 due to his injury and was subsequently loaned out to Manchester United. However, he only managed to score 4 goals in 29 appearances for the Old Trafford outfit and the Red Devils opted against signing him on a permanent deal.
A loan to rivals Chelsea followed but Falcao failed spectacularly at Stamford Bridge too. The Colombian only managed to score 1 goal in the 12 appearances that he made for the Blues before eventually returning to where it all began – AS Monaco. Since then, he has guided the Stade Louis II outfit to the Ligue 1 title and also helped them reach the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League.
However, all that has not helped his market value, which has plummetted from €35 million at the start of 2016 to €15 million now.
#9 Antoine Griezmann – Atletico Madrid (Jan 2016: €50 million, Now: €80 million)
Increase in value: €30 million
Antoine Griezmann has had a roller coster of a last 18 months. The Frenchman reached the final of the UEFA Champions League 2015/16 but lost to Real Madrid at the final hurdle. With his national team, France, he reached the final of UEFA Euro 2016 – a tournament which was hosted by France – but eventually lost to Cristiano Ronaldo-led Portugal.
If that was not all, he finished 3rd in the FIFA Best Player awards behind winner Cristiano Ronaldo and runners-up Lionel Messi. The Frenchman endured a difficult campaign with Atleti this season, still managed to score 26 goals while assisting another 12, although the Vicente Calderon outfit were knocked out in the Champions League in the semi-final by nemesis and arch-rivals Real Madrid.
Despite the gruesome year, Griezmann was linked with a €100 million move to Manchester United, however, that didn’t happen as Atletico were hit with a transfer ban still, the Frenchman is valued at an incredible €80 million, €30 million more than what he was worth at the start of 2016.
#8 Wayne Rooney – Manchester United (Jan 2016: €40 million, Now: €20 million)
Decrease in value: €20 million
Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney has had an unbelievable fall from grace in the last 12 months. The English striker endured his worst season in the last decade as he scored only 8 goals while assisting another 10 in 39 appearances for the Red Devils last season.
Not only has he lost a place in the starting XI of Jose Mourinho’s side but he has also been ignored by the English national team. As of now it is unclear what Manchester United’s all-time leading goalscorer’s future holds for him but it is unlikely that he will continue with the Red Devils.
His fall from grace has been reflected by the huge drop in his transfer value also, which has come down to €20 million, from €40 million.
#7 N’Golo Kante – Chelsea (Jan 2016: €7 million, Now: €40 million)
Increase in value: €33 million
Not only has N’Golo Kante established himself as one of the best midfielders in the world, the Frenchman has also joined a select few individuals to win back-to-back Premier League titles with 2 different clubs. Kante was instrumental in Leicester City’s fairytale title-winning campaign last season and ever since his €35.8 million move to Chelsea, he has become an irreplaceable cog in Antonio Conte’s well-oiled machine.
For his exploits with Chelsea, Kante was crowned the PFA Player of the Year and his transfer value has increased significantly from €7 million in January of 2016, to €40 million now.
#6 Jackson Martinez – Guangzhou Evergrande (Jan 2016: €30 million, Now: €9 million)
Decrease in value: €21 million
Jackson Martinez’s market value has plummeted in the last 18 months, so has his reputation as a lethal goalscorer. Considered as one of the most prolific strikers in world football, the Colombian opted to move to the lucrative Chinese Super League to ply his trade with Guangzhou Evergrande.
His move from Porto to Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2015/16 was hardly successful as the Colombian was struggling for goals in Spain and had managed to net only thrice in 22 appearances. The Vicente Calderon outfit, therefore, decided to ship him to the cash-rish Chinese Super League but that hasn’t resulted in an upturn in fortune for Martinez, who has only netted 4 times since his €42 million move to China.
#5 Kylian Mbappe – AS Monaco (Jan 2016: €0.05 million, Now: €35 million)
Increase in value: €34.95 million
Kylian Mbappe could soon become one of the most expensive transfers of all time, if not the most expensive. To imagine that the Frenchman is set to achieve that unique feat at the tender age of 18 is simply incredible and unbelievable.
18 months ago, almost 99% of the footballing fraternity didn’t even know who the Frenchman was or where he plied his trade but an incredible 12 months, or 9 to be precise has put him on the footballing map, so much so that clubs like Real Madrid, Arsenal and Chelsea are willing to pay up to €130 million for his services. The 18-year-old is a once in a generation player and has scored 26 goals while also providing 14 assists in his first season at the top level.
No matter where he goes, Mbappe is one name that you will be hearing for a long-long time, so you might as well get accustomed to it.
I was waiting for the Frenchman to arrive and was hence refraining from explaining the difference between ‘transfer value’ and ‘market value’. A player’s market value is determined by his age, his contract status and above all his abilities and in most cases, it is very different from his transfer value.
A transfer value is the price that a club agrees to pay for a certain footballer and in most cases, it is above that player’s market value. Sometimes footballers prove that they are worth the transfer fees splashed by a club on them, while on some occasions it simply doesn’t work out. A good example of both scenarios are Cristiano Ronaldo and Angel di Maria.
#4 Mario Gotze – Borussia Dortmund (Jan 2016: €45 million, Now: €20 million)
Decrease in value: €25 million
Hailed as the Golden Boy of Germany, after he won his country the 2014 World Cup with an extra-time winner against Argentina in the final, not all has worked out in Mario Gotze’s favour ever since. He struggled for game time at Bayern Munich under Pep Guardiola before being shipped back to his former club Borussia Dortmund.
Little did he know, that it was all going to go from bad to worse. The 25-year-old struggled to maintain his fitness upon his return to Signal Iduna Park before in March of 2017, he was diagnosed with a metabolic disorder, which threatened to put an early end to his footballing career. Ever since the cause for his metabolic trouble has been identified as myopathy and he is on his road to recovery. Will he become the footballer he was destined to become, we will need to wait and find out but his transfer stock has hit the proverbial ‘rock bottom’.
#3 Dele Alli – Tottenham Hotspur (Jan 2016: €5 million, Now: €40 million)
Increase in value: €35 million
Dele Alli has established himself as one of the best young midfielders in the world in the last couple of seasons. On top of being a creative force to be reckoned with, the 21-year-old has also made a name for himself as a goalscorer having netted an incredible 22 goals from midfield last season.
The Tottenham Hotspur superstar has seen his stock skyrocket in the last 18 months as he, along with striker Harry Kane, helped lead the White Hart Lane outfit’s title challenge in the last two seasons. If Spurs are unable to win something of note in the upcoming season, it is almost guaranteed that the English midfielder will be lured away by one of Europe's biggest clubs, who will have to part with a considerable fortune given Alli's present market value.
In the last 18 months, Alli's market value has soared from a meager €5 million to the €40 million it is as of now, and it is only going to rise further.
#2 James Rodriguez – Real Madrid (Jan 2016: €80 million, Now: €50 million)
Decrease in value: €30 million
James Rodriguez has not endured a fall from grace like some of other names on this list, instead, he has just paid the price for not featuring in the plans of Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane. The Colombian announced himself to the world as one of the brightest prospects in football with a scintillating performance in the 2014 World Cup, where he was awarded the Golden Boot – for being the tournament’s top scorer. Not only that, he also won the FIFA Puskas Award for his sensational volley against Uruguay.
The Colombian looks set to leave the Santiago Bernabeu having featured only 33 times for the club this season, wherein he scored 11 goals while assisting another 13. Rodriguez is an extremely talented player and under the right manager can become one of the best in the world. However, in the last 18 months his market value has dropped an incredible €30 million.
#1 Paulo Dybala – Juventus (Jan 2016: €28 million, Now: €65 million)
Increase in value: €37 million
Often hailed as the successor to Lionel Messi in the Argentine setup, Paulo Dybala has done enough in the last 18 months to further fuel the hype. No, he didn’t win the Ballon d’Or but he knocked out Messi’s Barcelona from the UEFA Champions League in the quarter-finals after netting twice against them at the Juventus Stadium in Turin.
The 23-year-old has a long way to go and has to achieve a plethora of things before he can be even considered on par, or as a successor to Lionel Messi – arguably the greatest footballer of all time. But La Joya – as he is fondly nicknamed – is on the right path as he helped Juventus reach the final of the UEFA Champions League, while also helping them complete the domestic double.
19 goals and 9 assists aren’t particularly eye-catching numbers when Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo plunder 50 goals apiece each season but Dybala adds so much to the game than just his goals and assists, apart from having an incredible room to improve. Will he become the next best thing in the world of football? Your guess is as good as mine but until then, let’s enjoy the brilliance of the fleet-footed Argentine.
