Top 10 market value decreases: Man Utd star holds top spot above teammate and Chelsea duo
This list of the biggest market value decreases since the start of the 2023/24 is topped by a Manchester United player (no prizes for guessing who), features two injury-ravaged Chelsea stars and has five Premier League representatives in total. Best League In The World.
We’ve differentiated players with the same decrease in market value by the percentage decrease, with all data courtesy of Transfermarkt.
If you’re feeling positive, here are the market value increases.
10) Marco Verratti (Al-Arabi): €40m to €18m (-€22m)
Bucked the Middle East trend by going to Qatar rather than Saudi Arabia, but is doing very nicely thank you very much on €45m-a-year and presumably couldn’t care less about this dip.
9) Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich): €75m to €50m (-€25m)
Here for no reason other than his contract nearing its end. His Bayern Munich deal has 12 months left to run and the German giants are said to be unwilling to match his current €20m-a-year salary, piquing the interest of Barcelona, Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City. Kimmich is apparently Rodri’s ‘ideal’ midfield partner in the eyes of Pep Guardiola.
8) Reece James (Chelsea): €65m to €40m (-€25m)
A fit Reece James is worth far more than €40m, perhaps even more than €65m, as he showed having returned from injury late in the season to provide a delightful assist in the comeback win over Nottingham Forest.
He walked runways in Los Angeles instead of playing for England at Euro 2024 due to his lack of game time. The trick for Chelsea – who did miss their captain despite Malo Gusto’s fine debut season – will be in keeping him off the treatment table.
7) Mason Mount (Manchester United): €60m to €35m (-€25m)
He’s been beset by injury this season, starting just five Premier League games, and that’s definitely a key factor in his diminished value, but him providing just one goal and one assist in over 750 minutes of action also contributes significantly.
He could be ‘like a new signing’ but there has been very little sign of Mount reaching his Chelsea heights in his limited game time for the Red Devils, and it feels like there’s very little hope – even among the United fans – of him coming good in a team that has to include Bruno Fernandes. Quite simply, Erik ten Hag bought a player for whom there is no place. They should sell him.
READ MORE: 4) Zirkzee, 2) Yoro: Ratcliffe era Manchester United transfer decisions ranked from worst to best…
6) Joao Cancelo (Manchester City): €50m to €25m (-€25m)
Very easy to forget that Cancelo remains on the Manchester City books given he’s been in exile for 19 months after a tiff with Pep Guardiola, who admitted at the end of the season that he would begrudgingly welcome him back for pre-season (though that’s not happened yet) if Barcelona don’t stump up their asking price, thought to be roughly his market value. The Catalans are putting all their eggs in the Nico Williams basket so that looks unlikely, meaning Cancelo will likely be forced to look elsewhere for a landing spot.
5) Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (Marseille): €45m to €18m (-€27m)
A €27m drop feels harsh before you question how on earth Hojbjerg was valued at €45m at the start of the campaign.
He featured in all but two Premier League games under Ange Postecoglou in 2023/24 but started just eight of them and has now left for Marseille on loan with an obligation to buy for £17m, just over that market value.
4) Neymar (Al Hilal): €60m to €30m (-€30m)
He earns £129.4m per year, which last season worked out at £330k per minute played after the cruciate ligament tear which put paid to his involvement in Copa America for Brazil.
3) Wesley Fofana (Chelsea): €55m to €25m (-€30m)
He’s missed 140 games through injury in the last three seasons. He may never return to his peak and people will as a result insist he was never worth the €80m Chelsea paid for him. When he was good he was really bloody good though.
READ MORE: Say it quietly because it might be stupid, but Chelsea…could actually be good?
2) Randal Kolo Muani (PSG): €80m to €45m (-€35m)
It’s fair to say it’s not really gone to plan for Kolo Muani since his £82m move from Frankfurt in the summer, with fellow arrival Bradley Barcola the preferred option of manager Luis Enrique.
Kylian Mbappe’s departure for Real Madrid will surely grant the 25-year-old far more opportunities after a debut season in which he started just 13 Ligue 1 games. Also didn’t have the same impact in the Euros as he did at the World Cup, but no France player did to be fair and he was also the only member of the squad to score a goal in open play.
1) Antony (Manchester United): €60m to €25m (-€35m)
He’s now dropped well below the market value he was at (€35m) when Manchester United signed him for €95m, a transfer fee which led to what was quite clearly a false top value of €75m in the summer of 2022. A 67% drop in two years is good going, even for United.
Difficult though he makes it for us to feel sorry for him, it’s not Antony’s fault that Erik ten Hag asked his clueless transfer chiefs to pay significantly more than the GDP of Tuvalu for a player whose one trick of cutting inside onto his left foot was sussed out within a month by opposition managers, essentially rendering him useless ever since.
Fortunately the new regime appear to be doing rather better in the transfer market and still hope they can find a buyer for Antony, though Ten Hag has other ideas.
