CIES report charts Euro club season by value; big is beautiful

By Paul Nicholson
June 5 – Lionel Messi would be worth almost twice as much in the transfer market than Cristiano Ronaldo, while the total asset value of Barcelona’s playing squad is still worth more than €100 million than Real Madrid, and almost twice that of Manchester United, according to the CIES Football Observatory Annual Review which looks at market value of players in Europe’s Big 5 leagues.

The ninth edition of the report throws up interesting stats again reinforcing the high cost for clubs who want to be performing at the top of the league. Big spend and big success are interlinked though the stats do show that Athletico Madrid, to a degree, broke the model this season.

Messi’s value actually dropped over the year by €19 million to €216 million. Ronaldo is valued at €114 million, lower than Messi because he is older and hence likely has a shorter career in front of him.

The report looks at a number of different metrics including number of passes (Bayern Munich top the list), number of shots per match (Real Madrid have most), and least shots needed to score a goal (Barcelona and Manchester City).

Looking at the value of playing squads and the average transfer spend per player is where you see the absolute financial difference between the two Champions League finalists.

Real Madrid’s average transfer spend per player is €30.7 million, Athletico’s is €4.3 million. Compared with the champions in other leagues, PSG is at €20.4 million, Manchester City is at €20.1 million and Bayern Munich is at €11.6 million.

Throughout the report there are examples of clubs and players out-performing their valuations – Crystal Palace in England, Elche in Spain, Guingamp in France, Augsburg in Germany and Hellas Verona in Italy are all examples highlighted – but the big money big win mantra still holds and suggests that spending in this high stakes game might not be as a big a risk as many believe.

The next step should be to match this to the financial performances of the clubs. Effectively what UEFA’s financial fair play does but, obviously, in a different way for a different reason.

This year’s edition also has a detailed analysis of pitch performance both at club and individual player level, as well as am examination of squad compositions in terms of planning, experience and recruitment policies. An extract of the report can be viewed at http://www.football-observatory.com/IMG/pdf/ar2014_excerpt.pdf

For those warming up for a spectacular World Cup characterised by an awe-inspiring and free scoring team of Brazilian brilliance, the report suggest there could be some disappointment. In Europe’s Big 5 leagues Brazil’s defensive players rank considerably higher overall than Brazil’s attacking midfielders and forwards.

The CIES Football Observatory is promising to release its World Cup predictions using a brand new methodology within the next week.

Player values