High valued players are not very often worth the hype or the amount of money that is involved in their transfers. Of course, exceptions do exist. However, the ridiculously high amount of money being currently exchanged by clubs over players at present is a sign of how far football has become commercialised.
While some players definitely command respect and are completely justified by their talent, there are still others who turn out to be inconsistent, living only off brand value. This commercial development of football is concentrated to only a few leagues and the top tiered clubs in these leagues.
Smaller clubs with days of glory long gone may actually be more affordable than some of the players and their huge transfer values.
We look at 5 players and the massive money involved in the biggest transfers of their career and 5 clubs that could have been bought for a less or similar amount of money.
#1 Stuttgart and Angel Di Maria
Although he was an above average player during his time at Real Madrid, Di Maria's value based on his skill dropped rapidly after a season at Manchester United as he failed to impress the crowds and the critics alike. His transfer fee when he came to Manchester United was a little more than 71 million Euros making this amount the highest ever paid for a player by a British Club.
His value dropped drastically and United were able to sell him to Paris Saint-German for just 52 million Euros. A new experiment of playing him out of position went disastrously wrong for erstwhile United manager Louis van Gaal and as such Di Maria's form suffered, reflecting in the team's general performance. Nevertheless, he turned out to be one of the worst signings for Manchester United last season.
Compare this to the historical club of Stuttgart which was one of the original Bundesligists with five Bundesliga titles to their name and boasting of names like Jurgen Klinsmann to have have been associated with them. True, the club went through a period of financial loss during the time period of 1975 to 2000 but even after recovering a period of extremely high debt, the club bounced back to be the runners up of Bundesliga in the 2002-03 season.
Players like Mario Gomez and Sami Khedira have played for this historically grand club. The club has been valued at 49.6 million Euros.
#2 Espanyol and David Luiz
David Luiz has been called overpaid and overrated as the Brazillian central defender failed to impress and failed to create an impact throughout the Champions League game against Manchester City in April 2016. He managed to incense a large majority of French supporters after getting booked hardly 12 seconds into the game.
In fact, Roy Keane described him as seeming “clueless” through most of the game. His transfer fee from Chelsea to Paris Saint-German was nearly 60 million euros
On the other hand, there is a club like Espanyol who have won four Copa del Rey titles and have a history of siding with the two fascist dictatorships that have marred Spain. The club has gone through a financial trouble and bounced back to remain consistently in the first division league of Spain.
The most recent Copa del Rey win for RCD Espanyol came in 2006. The club has also reached two finals of the UEFA Cup. The market value of Espanyol is 55.15 million Euros.
#3 LOSC Lille and Raheem Sterling
Probably one of the most overrated players in the Premier League, Raheem Sterling's reputation as a prolific forward was an illusion created by the players he played alongside at Liverpool. Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge made this guy look extremely formidable.
At 20, the English forward completed a record deal from Liverpool to Manchester City after a contract dispute that made him widely hated among the Scouse population in general. Hailed as one of the best youngsters for England at present, Sterling has failed to impress at both club and country level despite being paid 58.5 million euros for a transfer to Manchester City last season.
His most recent performance at the Euros has been dismal, to say the least.
The first division of French football may not boast of quality clubs, the standard of football having gone down quite badly in recent times. However, a lot of French footballers have made their mark in other major football leagues around the world.
Lille qualified for Champions League for the first time in its history in the 2000-2001 season and have since then been steadily improving. The market value of this steadily improving club is 58.75 million euros, marginally more than what Sterling was paid to join Manchester City.
#4 AS Saint-Etienne and James Rodriguez
After the 2014 FIFA World Cup, James Rodriguez was in great demand and some of the biggest clubs in the world were queueing up to sign him. Real Madrid eventually won the race and the Colombian superstar seemed well on his way to stardom having been given the opportunity to create a niche for himself at arguably the biggest club there is.
After completing an 80 million euros record transfer to the club, James seemed to be doing quite well at settling into the atmosphere of his new home. However, since his first season at Bernabeu, the youngster appears to have taken a backseat, often not successful in creating an impact in multiple back-to-back games.
Questions have risen as to whether James might turn out to be a one season wonder but, as he is relatively young, he still has time to redeem himself for the remainder of his contract with Real Madrid.
AS Saint-Etienne is like the Liverpool FC of French first-division football. They are arguably the most successful club in Ligue 1, having won 10 league titles which are the most professional league titles won by any French Club.
In addition to this, Saint-Etienne has to its credit six Coupe de France titles, one Coupe de la Ligue title and have won the French Super Cup six times. Most of their successes came in the decade spanning from 1960-70. The club boasts of former players as big as French legend Michel Platini. The market value of Saint-Etienne is 75.2 million euros.
#5 Gareth Bale and Olympiakos FC
Though no one can call Bale a struggling footballer, it is very clear that he will never get his dues in Real Madrid as long as a bigger star (read Cristiano Ronaldo) is present in the team. Having created a record with his transfer fee of 100 million euros, it is sad that Gareth Bale cannot be as integral to Real Madrid as he is capable of being.
The Welshman is one of the best forwards in the world at present albeit with a ridiculously high transfer fee. However, there is a top first division club in a lesser known league who apparently cost less than Gareth Bale.
Olympiakos are the only club in the world to have won five or more championship titles in a row after they won their fifth one in the 2014-15 season. They also hold the record for winning the most number of consecutive titles as they won seven Greek Super League titles from 1997-2003.
The club has a market value of 88.7 million euros. They have regularly secured a place in the Champions and have even succeeded in defeating a club like Manchester United in one season.
