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#3 Andriy Shevchenko (£25.2 million)
The Ballon d'Or is won by six AC Milan players in the history of the award and Andriy Shevchenko is one of them. He came through the ranks at Dynamo Kyiv in Ukraine.
The right-footed forward earned a move to AC Milan in 1999 where he spent seven seasons. The move turned out to be a successful one as Shevchenko earned a lot of accolades with the Italian giants. In the 2003-04 season, he helped them win Serie A, with the Ukrainian finishing as the league's top-scorer after scoring 24 goals.
Milan also won the Supercoppa Italia that season and 2004 was the year where Shevchenko won the Ballon d'Or, beating Barcelona's Deco. His market value then was just £25.2 million.
#2 Luka Modric (£22.5 million)
Luka Modric is one of the most underrated players in the history of the game. Real Madrid have earned a lot of success in the last decade and while many top players are getting the appreciation, Modric deserves as much acknowledgement.
The Croatian midfielder signed for Real Madrid in 2012 and has been with them ever since. Irrespective of age, Modric has been nothing short of world-class with his high work-rate, beautiful passing and effective positional play. He won the UEFA Champions League in the 2017-18 season with Madrid.
In 2018, the former Spurs midfielder did phenomenally well to help Croatia reach the finals of the FIFA World Cup. He had a massive role to play in that, which was eventually instrumental in helping him win the 2018 Ballon d'Or. Luka Modric's market value at the time was £22.5 million.
#1 Fabio Cannavaro (£13 million)
Regarded as one of the best defenders of his generation, Fabio Cannavaro was a stunning player. After joining Juventus in 2004, the Italian put in some amazing performances.
Cannavaro was technically sound, had the composure and pace at the back to become a very mindful defender. He was sharp with his positioning and very effective with his tackling.
Despite not being the tallest, he was quite good aerially. He won Serie A with Juventus in 2006 and also the FIFA World Cup with Italy that year.
His dominating performance for both club and country helped him win the 2006 Ballon d'Or. This made him the only defender in the 21st century to win the award and the third defender in the history of the prestigious award. Cannavaro's market value back then was only £13 million.
