Market values LaLiga: Vinicius Junior jumps from 20th to 1st place - €96 million minus for Atlético

Transfermarkt.es has provided all LaLiga players with new market values and this time there are significantly more major downgrades than upgrades. Titleholders Atlético have been hit particularly hard, with their squad value going down by almost €100 million, while FC Barcelona drop below the €600 million mark. Meanwhile, Real Madrid’s squad features by far the biggest winner, moving from the bottom of the top 20 to the top of the market value rankings: Vinicius Junior.

The 21-year-old winger has made a huge step forward under Carlo Ancelotti, playing a key role in the league leaders’ success with 21 goal contributions and doubles his market value to €100 million.

Tobias Blaseio, area manager Spain, says: “He is without a doubt the player of the first half of the season. Everyone could guess his potential in recent years, and now he has taken the big step to become a difference-maker who can decide games single-handedly. His poor goal-scoring record and lack of efficiency have gone away this year. Vinicius certainly has realistic chances of moving even closer to Haaland and Mbappé in terms of market value as the season progresses.”

In Vinicius, Los Blancos now have the most valuable LaLiga player and once again one who has cracked the 100 million mark – worldwide, only six footballers belong to this group. Real players also lead the rankings in defence and in goal now: Éder Militão increased his market value by €20 million to €60 million and is currently arguably the best centre-back in the league. The record titleholders also have the most valuable goalkeeper in Thibaut Courtois thanks to an upgrade of €5 million to €65 million, as Jan Oblak (-10 to €60 million) of Atlético and Marc-André ter Stegen (-10 to €45 million) of Barça are struggling.

Atlético with historic downgrade: 14 drops in titleholders’ squad

For the recently struggling titleholers Atlético, there are a total of 14 devaluations with zero upgrades – the bottom line is a minus in squad value of €96.6 million. Two Colchoneros are downgraded by €20 million: club icon Koke to €40 million and Marcos Llorente to €60 million.

Market value expert Blaseio says: “Llorente’s versatility is now becoming a burden, as he is used by Simeone in a wide variety of positions and can therefore hardly play to his strengths on a consistent basis. He, like the whole team, doesn’t seem stable, which also affects his market value.”

Downgrades only All new Atlético market values Click here for overview It is a similar story with Koke, whose 30th birthday in early January also plays a role. “The transition to a more dominant and active style of play is accompanied by major problems at Atlético, and Koke is not really coming to terms with this role either. So, he will also be replaced by the competition in the Spanish national team sooner or later,” Blaseio says.

This competition includes high-flyer Gavi of FC Barcelona, for whom it now goes up again after a start market value of €25 million – this time to €40 million. “Despite his 17 years, he plays in a detached manner, as if he had done nothing else for many seasons. He brings youthful freshness, agility, tackling strength and very good match intelligence, which is unusual for his age. Gavi is about to renew his contract, in the course of which the clause of €50 million will be raised,” Blaseio knows.

€63.5m minus All new Barça market values Click here for overview Gavi is one of the winners in the Catalans’ squad, along with Ronald Araújo (+10 to €35 million), Nico González (+8 to €20 million) and Ez Abde (+7 to €8 million), but these are offset by 19 devaluations that add up to a minus of €63.5 million. Ousmane Dembélé (-20 to €30 million) and Frenkie de Jong (-20 to €70 million) have suffered particularly hard.

About the latter, Blaseio says: “He couldn’t meet the high expectations for a long time, even a transfer is no longer excluded. The Dutchman had periods in 2020/21 when you could see the best de Jong – this season he looks drained and without much wit, so his lack of presence on the pitch inevitably has a negative impact on his market value.”

For the three days younger Dembélé, meanwhile, there is the sixth devaluation since 2019. “His path at Barcelona will probably continue despite the contract expiring in 2022, because he does not seem to be a prioritised option at other clubs. The former Dortmund player’s abilities are well known, but so is his high susceptibility to injury. With his new contract, he will have to take a huge pay cut and it will be exciting to see if he can find his old strength again under Xavi and possibly avoid injuries for a longer period of time.” Due to injury, Dembélé has only played 316 minutes in LaLiga this season.

The regulars at Real Sociedad include another ex-BVB player, Mikel Merino, who is getting better every year since arriving at the club in 2018. This time, the central midfielder climbs by €10 million to a career high of €50 million. “Without him, Real Sociedad are much weaker, which has been shown when he wasn’t on the pitch. After 13 matches without defeat, the Basques lost the three following games without Merino. In the national team, he gets short stints and is playing himself more and more into the team,” says Blaseio about the Spaniard, who was allowed to leave Borussia for Newcastle for €10 million in 2017.

However, there is also a small minus for Real Sociedad in this update: a devaluation of €1.4 million. In addition to Atlético and Barça, Celta de Vigo (-€20.1 million), Sevilla (-€26 million), Granada (-€7 million) and Getafe (-€29.6 million) also saw their squad values drop significantly.

Meanwhile, Rayo Vallecano secured the biggest increase percentagewise with 14.7% – the surprise fourth-place team ranks ahead of FC Barcelona, Atlético, Valencia and Real Sociedad in the LaLiga table and is upgraded by €7.9 million to €61.5 million.

How Transfermarkt market values work

The Transfermarkt market values are calculated, taking into account various pricing models. A major factor is the Transfermarkt community, whose members discuss and evaluate player market values in detail. In general, the Transfermarkt market values are not to be equated with transfer fees. 

The goal is not to predict a price but an expected value of a player in a free market. Both individual transfer modalities and situational conditions are relevant in determining market values. Examples of this are listed below. Transfermarkt does not use an algorithm (you can find the detailed market value definition here).