Championship market values: Gray and Bellingham on the rise – Ipswich biggest winners

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Many youngsters upgraded 

Three days ahead of the market value update in the Premier League on May 27, Transfermarkt has adjusted or confirmed the market values of every single player in the English Championship. Among the biggest winners are several young talents such as Leeds United’s Archie Gray and Sunderland midfielder Jobe Bellingham, who both have attracted the interest of top-division clubs this season. After a drop of another €4.7 million, league winners Leicester lose their spot at the top of the squad value rankings to Leeds, who are up by €2m and now rank €1.3m ahead of the Foxes, mainly down to their younger squad.

Having picked up only four points from their last six Championship matches, Leeds lost out on direct promotion to Ipswich and face Southampton in the playoff final on Sunday. Nonetheless, there have been several bright spots in their season, with 18-year-old Gray being one of them. The England U21 international performed very consistently in his first full senior season and already attracted the interest of the Premier League’s top clubs. With a market value plus of €2m to €18m, Gray now is the sixth most valuable player in the second division, where the Whites boast the second youngest squad.

Another English teenager on the rise is Sunderland’s Bellingham, who also amassed over 40 games in the Championship this season, proving his durability in a physical league at a young age already, just like his older brother did at Birmingham. With Borussia Dortmund reportedly monitoring his situation, he could follow in Jude’s footsteps soon. For now, the attacking midfielder’s market value rises from €9m to €12m.

Championship update: Whittaker biggest winner – Philogene on the up

Having only been involved in a single goal at Swansea in the second half of last season, Plymouth winger Morgan Whittaker returned to his former loan club on a permanent transfer after the Home Park side gained promotion to the Championship. He has quickly emerged as one of the most prolific forwards in the current campaign. At 23 years of age, the former England U20 international finished the season joint-third in the league’s scoring charts with 19 goals in 46 games, also adding eight assists and showing plenty of potential. Following interest from several Premier League and Championship clubs in January, even more sides are monitoring his situation ahead of the summer transfer window. As a result, Whittaker’s market value rises from €6m to €12m, which makes him the biggest winner of the update.

There are plenty more examples of talented young players that have yet to fulfil their full potential and are going up in value as well. The biggest winner of the intermediary market value update in March, Hull City’s Jaden Philogene, makes another step forward and improves his market value from €12m to €15m following impressive performances and four goals in the last seven games, with Hull only missing out on a playoff spot by three points. Several Premier League clubs are closely following the 22-year-old winger’s development, who only arrived from Aston Villa for a fee of €5.8m last summer.

Leicester’s Issahaku Fatawu (+€3m to €10m), Leeds’ Crysencio Summerville (+€2m to €20m) and Norwich forward Jonathan Rowe (+€2m to €9m) also find themselves among the players aged 23 or younger to receive major market value boosts. At the age of 28, the Championship’s top scorer, Blackburn’s Sammie Szmodics, is one of the older winners of the current update and goes up by €2.5m to €7m after bagging 27 goals in 44 games.

Championship market values: Surprise team Ipswich biggest winners

Surprise team Ipswich, who will return to the Premier League for the first time since 2002, are the biggest winners in terms of squad value with a plus of €14.8m and now sit eighth in the Championship’s overall rankings, showing how much manager Kieran McKenna’s side has overperformed. The biggest winners in the Blues’ squad are forward Conor Chaplin (+€4m to €7m), left-back Leif Davis (+€3m to €9m) and Chelsea loanee Omari Hutchinson, who rises from €4.5m to €7m.

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).