Bundesliga market values: Bellingham alone at the top - Musiala surpasses biggest loser Mané

The Bundesliga has a new sole most valuable player in England international and Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham, while Jamal Musiala has climbed to the top of the club-internal ranking at Bayern Munich. In the league’s intermediary update, a total of 120 players have been given a new market value, including Bayern’s top transfer Sadio Mané, Leipzig returnee Timo Werner and Union Berlin’s high-flying duo of Sheraldo Becker and Jordan Pefok.

At just 19 years of age, Bellingham is already bossing Dortmund’s midfield and in England the question is no longer whether he will move to the Premier League, but only when and to which club. For the Birmingham City youth product, it goes up from €80 million to a Bundesliga high of €90m. This leaves Joshua Kimmich and Christopher Nkunku, with whom he previously shared the top spot, behind.

 “You can’t talk about an England bonus in this upgrade,” market value admin Frederic Hillmann (DonRoxy) said. “The fact is that Bellingham is an extremely interesting player for English clubs taking into account his player profile and the potential for further development. Consequently, he has the potential to generate an enormous transfer fee.”

Bundesliga update: Musiala most valuable at Bayern Munich - Mané drops

Musiala is another winner of the update with English roots. The Stuttgart-born youngster rose through Chelsea’s youth ranks for eight years before he moved to Munich for €200,000 in 2019. His breakthrough in the first team and debut in the German national team quickly followed. As a result, the teenager is the most valuable player at the German record champions together with Kimmich now.

“Thanks to his breathtaking dribbling skills and his vision on the pitch, Julian Nagelsmann is increasingly relying on the 19-year-old and prefers him over established players,” market value admin Julius Weissenstein (Savarez03) said, citing one of the reasons for the increase from €65m to €80m.

Musiala has thus also overtaken Mané in terms of market value, who is downgraded from €70m to €60m after his €32m transfer from Liverpool to Säbener Straße. “Mané has not yet been able to fulfil the great expectations put in his signing, although his performances this season played no role in this assessment,” Hillmann said. “His age was also not important for the first valuation as a Bundesliga player, but the transfer fee. The difference between his previous market value and the amount paid for him was too significant, even if he had only one year remaining on his contract.”

Werner devalued following Chelsea exit - Union Berlin duo on the up

Ex-Manchester City left-back Angeliño (-€10m to €20m), who joined Hoffenheim on loan from RB Leipzig, and Red Bull striker Werner (-€10m to €25m) are also devalued by the same amount as Mané, completing the top 3 of the biggest losers in the most recent update. “Werner has been denied a breakthrough at Chelsea,” Weissenstein said. “After a solid first season, his playing time and output gradually declined. As harsh as it may sound, players of Werner’s calibre are expendable in the Premier League.” In 2020, Chelsea still paid €53m for the forward, this summer, the 26-year-old returned to the Bundesliga for just €20m plus €10m in potential add-ons.

150 kilometres northeast of Leipzig, two players are delivering numbers that most people probably rather expected from RB duo Werner and André Silva (-€5m to €27m). Union Berlin’s Becker (+€8m to €15m) and Jordan (+€3m to €10m) where directly involved in a combined 15 goals and are one of the main reasons, Union currently sit at the top of the league.

Union Berlin at the top The current Bundesliga standings Click here for the table “In Becker’s case, his start to the season was outstanding and his performances were even stronger than in the final third of last campaign,” Hillmann said, citing the reasons why the Bundesliga’s current top scorer is rising to €15m for now. “At the same time, however, the forward’s previous performances and age must also be taken into account. At 27, the potential for further growth is lower than for younger players.”

Update: Chelsea target Gvardiol among top 10 centre-backs worldwide

A player for whom the Bundesliga could be a stopover is Josko Gvardiol of RB Leipzig. The young defender is the biggest winner of the update, making a jump from €35m to €60m, meaning the Croatian is now one of the ten most valuable centre-backs in the world. With his performances at the highest level, the 20-year-old was able to arouse the interest of Chelsea and Tottenham, among others, before RB extended the contract with the Croatia international until 2027 on Deadline Day. The new deal will hardly deter interested parties from England in the future, however.

How Transfermarkt market values work

The Transfermarkt market values are calculated, taking into account various pricing models. A major factor is the Transfermarkt community, whose members discuss and evaluate player market values in detail. In general, the Transfermarkt market values are not to be equated with transfer fees. 

The goal is not to predict a price but an expected value of a player in a free market. Both individual transfer modalities and situational conditions are relevant in determining market values. Examples of this are listed below. Transfermarkt does not use an algorithm (you can find the detailed market value definition here).