Liverpool’s 20 year old young winger Raheem Sterling is the most valuable young player in Europe, according to a new Soccerex study.
The Soccerex 20 U21 Report ranks the top 20 players in Europe aged 20 or younger as of January 1, 2015.
The rankings were compiled using the Football Value Index, a player valuation methodology which takes into account various metrics including age, position, minutes played and technical quality.
The report, compiled by former Barcelona Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer Esteve Calzada, said the Liverpool winger is worth £35 million.
Manchester City have had a £35 million bid for the 20-year-old rejected with suggestions they will raise their bid to £50 million — £15 million more than the value Soccerex have placed on him.
Sterling’s nearest competitor is Paris Saint-Germain’s young Brazilian defender Marquinhos who is valued at £28.3 million
Netherlands international winger Memphis Depay, who Manchester United have signed after he was the top scorer in the Dutch League last season, was third with a market value of £23.9 million just £1.1 million less than what Manchester United paid for him.
The top 10 was completed by Sassuolo’s Domenico Berardi, Atletico Madrid’s Jose Maria Gimenez, Bayer Leverkusen’s Hakan Calhanoglu, Inter’s Mateo Kovacic, Valencia’s Jose Gaya, United’s Shaw and Athletic Bilbao defender Aymeric Laporte.
The other premier League players in the top 20 are Luke Shaw, Kurt Zouma, Emre Can, John Stones, Divock Origi, Calum Chambers and Hector Bellerin.
Three Liverpool players are in the list with Sterling on top, Can at 15th and Origi at 18th.
Meanwhile, Arsenal and Manchester United see 2 youngsters from their teams with Depay and Shaw for the Red Devils and Chambers and Bellerin for the Gunners.
Only one Chelsea player features in the list with French centre back Kurt Zouma at 11th position.
Everton has also one player with John Stones at 16th position.
The report was carried out by sports agency Prime Time Sport to commemorate Soccerex’s 20th anniversary as the industry’s leading global football business event, and you can see it in full below.
The Soccerex 20 U21 Report:
1. Raheem Sterling (Liverpool) – £35m
2. Marquinhos (PSG) £28.3m
3. Memphis Depay (Man Utd) £23.9m
4. Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo, co-owned by Juventus) £21.7m
5. Jose Gimenez (Atletico Madrid) £21.5m
6. Hakan Calhanoglu (Bayer Leverkusen) £19.5m
7. Mateo Kovacic (Inter Milan) £18.6m
8. Jose Luis Gaya (Valencia) £18.4m
9. Luke Shaw (Man Utd) £18m
10. Aymeric Laporte (Athletic Bilbao) £17m
11. Kurt Zouma (Chelsea) £16.2m
12. Youri Tielemans (Anderlecht) £13.8m
13. Alexsandar Mitrovic (Anderlecht) £12.9m
14. Anderson Talisca (Benfica) £12.9m
15. Emre Can (Liverpool) £12.1m
16. John Stones (Everton) £12m
17. Anthony Martial (Monaco) £11.3m
18. Divock Origi (Liverpool) £10.9m
19. Calum Chambers (Arsenal) £10.7m
20. Hector Bellerin (Arsenal) £10.5m
