Argentina squad increased sharply after World Cup 2022
Argentina has seven players with strong price increases in the transfer market, notably Enzo Fernandez. With a value increase from $37 million to $58 million, Fernandez is the strongest value increaser in 2022. Benfica recruited the 21-year-old star from River Plate for less than $13 million in summer 2021 and will make a profit. significant transfer profit in the next transfer period. His contract with Benfica runs until 2027 with a release clause of $127 million.
Fernandez resonated with his right foot in the high corner, setting a 2-0 victory over Mexico in the second round of the group stage. After this goal, Fernandez won a starting place in the middle for the remaining five games, and was voted the best young player of the 2022 World Cup. Fernandez is worth as much as Tottenham midfielder Cristian Romero, and is currently an expensive player. second in the Argentina squad, behind Lautaro Martinez with $80 million.
Julian Alvarez also moved from River Plate to Europe, where he is currently a backup for Erling Haaland at Man City. Transfermarkt rated Alvarez as the best reserve striker in the world, with his value increasing from $34 million to $53 million. At the 2022 World Cup, Alvarez took the starting place of Lautaro Martinez and scored 4 goals, including a brace in the semi-final victory over Croatia 3-0. At 22 years and 316 days, Alvarez became the youngest player to score a brace in a World Cup semi-final, since "Football King" Pele scored a hat-trick in 1958 (17 years 244 days).
Lionel Messi is valued at $53 million and is currently the most expensive player over the age of 34 on the planet. In Qatar, the 35-year-old star led Argentina from a 1-2 defeat in the opening match against Saudi Arabia to a 4-2 victory in the penalty shootout against France in the final. On that journey, Messi contributed 7 goals, 3 assists, won 5 Player of the Match awards and the World Cup Golden Ball for the Best Player of the tournament.
The currently undervalued 2022 World Cup winners are Nicolas Otamendi ($3.1 million), Franco Armani (3.4), Alejandro Gomez (4.2) and German Pezzella (5.3). Some other outstanding players, including best goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez with $ 26.6 million, Alexis Mac Allister with $ 34 million, Rodrigo De Paul with $ 37 million or Nahuel Molina with $ 19 million.
The total value of the 26 Argentine players is now 757 million USD, compared with 688 million USD before the 2022 World Cup.
"The World Cup is the stage for players to get the world's attention," said Christian Schwarz, head of international division at Transfermarkt. "We only pay attention to players who have shown significant progress and are internationally competitive. This will lead to increased interest in the transfer market. Hence the value update. This World Cup market will only include upgrades".
According to Transfermarkt, Haaland was the most valuable player in the world from November 3 to December 23. However, Kylian Mbappe has returned to the top position with a value increased from 170 million USD to 192 million USD after the 2022 World Cup. In this tournament, the 24-year-old striker won the title of top scorer with 8 goals, including a hat. -trick in the final against Argentina.
Meanwhile, Haaland remained at $180 million and dropped to second. The 22-year-old striker has been practicing vegetarian for more than a month, when his Norwegian team only finished the qualifying round in third place in Group G, and could not even win a play-off ticket. Behind Haaland are Vinicius ($128 million), Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden (117), Pedri, Jamal Musiala, Bukayo Saka, Federico Valverde (106).
Transfermarkt is a portal based in Germany, established in May 2000, specializing in the transfer value of players and teams. They calculate player values based on age, performances, potential and contract length. However, this site emphasizes that the market value they calculate is not the same as the actual transfer fee. Transfermarkt is considered the most prestigious source of information on player value in the world today. In 2021, the site has 39 million monthly visitors, with 680,000 paying a subscription fee.
