No complaints with that top four but it gets a bid… weird after that.
Centre forwards have always been the rarest of commodities. Six of football’s 10 most expensive transfers have involved forwards.
With the 2022/23 season now in the history books, and the Manchester City celebrations finally easing off, the focus will now switch to the transfer window and the Women’s World Cup.
Many deals have already been done – you can track them in our live transfer hub – while business should really ramp up on July 1. The team at Transfermarkt has compiled its’ list of the players with the best market values, in each key position, and it makes for a fascinating read. It will definitely spark a debate or two.
Their lists go all the way from 1-500, but we are focusing on the Top 10, in detail, and the Top 25. We chose that cut-off mark as Ireland’s own Evan Ferguson features at No.25. The Brighton forward is valued at €30m but, were he to be prised out of the Amex, we reckon he would cost a lot more than that.
TOP 10 CENTRE FORWARDS
= 1st: €180 million – Kylian Mbappe (PSG) & Erling Haaland (Man City)
3rd: €120m – Victor Oshimen (Napoli)
4th: €90m – Harry Kane (Spurs)
5th: €85m – Lautaro Martinez (Inter)
6th: €75m – Gabriel Jesus (Arsenal)
= 7th: €70m – Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus) & Alexander Isak (Newcastle)
= 9th: €65m – Darwin Nunez (Liverpool) & Randal Kolo Muani (Eintracht Frankfurt)
Most valuable centre forwards, 10 to 25
Two of the most interesting parts of that transfer valuation list are the high figures for Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane. Both have only a year left on their contracts but Real Madrid, Manchester United, Bayern Munich and PSG are all on the look-out for strikers.
That may be the reason why Lautaro Martinez is so highly valued, too. We were surprised to see Gabriel Jesus so high in the list – in six full seasons in the Premier League his highest ever goal return is 14 – while Alexander Isak at €70m is eyebrow raising.
= 11. Julian Alvarez (Man City) & Jonathan David (Lyon) – €60m
13. Kai Havertz (Chelsea) – €55m
14. Goncalo Ramos (Benfica) – €50m
15. Richarlison (Spurs) – €48m
16. Rasmus Hojlund (Atalanta) – €45m
= 17. Tammy Abraham (Roma), Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea), Ollie Watkins (Aston Villa) – €40m
= 20. Amine Giouiri (Rennes) & Ivan Toney (Brentford) – €35m
= 22. Joao Pedro (Brighton) & Marcus Thuram (Borussia Mönchengladbach) – €32m
= 24. Nicolas Jackson (Villareal) & Evan Ferguson (Brighton) – €30m
For anyone wondering where the goalscoring likes of Mo Salah, Vinicius Jr., Rafael Leao and Marcus Rashford, Thomas Müller and more are, Transfermarkt has them listed as either ‘second strikers’ or ‘wingers’.
Vinicius Jr. is the highest valued attacker not in that ‘centre forward’ bracket, at €150m. Christopher Nkunku (€80m) is the highest valued ‘second striker’.
Michael Obafemi and Ireland U21 & Everton forward Tom Cannon are both valued at €5m [joint 263rd] while Troy Parrott’s market value is listed as €4m.
WATCH HOUSE OF FOOTBALL:
Read next: Summer transfer window 2023: Follow the latest updates live in our hub.
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- Former Ireland player reportedly being lined up to succeed Stephen Kenny
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