A recent study by the CIES Football Observatory ranked the top players in the world considering their market value. Surprisingly, Kylian Mbappé tops that list, beating Harry Kane and Neymar to the designation by quite a few million.
The 2018 World Cup champion tops the list after being awarded a $250M market valuation, which is $20M higher than that granted to Harry Kane and $24M higher than that of his PSG team-mate. The source considers the player's age and his performances for Les Parisiens and his National Team to allocate the referred value.
Surprisingly, Lionel Messi was left out of the top 5 most valuable players in the world. "La Pulga" appears in seventh place of this ranking, holding a $196M valuation. Cristiano Ronaldo's case is even worse, as the Portuguese striker appears in 19th place with a $145M value.
Here's the full list of players as published by the CIES Football Observatory.
1. Kylian Mbappé - $250M
2. Harry Kane - $230M
3. Neymar - $226M
4. Raheem Sterling - $213M
5. Mohamed Salah - $211M
6. Paulo Dybala - $197M
7. Lionel Messi - $196M
8. Romelu Lukaku - $186M
9. Philippe Coutinho - $180M
10. Leroy Sané - $179M
11. Antoine Griezmann - $178M
12. Dele Alli - $172M
13. Roberto Firmino - $167M
14. Sadio Mané - $158M
15. Gabriel Jesús - $154M
16. Bernardo Silva - $153M
17. Paul Pogba - $149M
18. Eden Hazard - $148M
19. Cristiano Ronaldo - $145M