€1.27b worth of talent – The combined most valuable XI of Real Madrid and Man City stars

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No Rodri? 

©TM/IMAGO

In a fascinating quirk of the new Champions League format, fans of the continental competition are being spoiled by an early showdown between two of the competitions biggest clubs. In a play-off that will see only one of them go through, Manchester City and Real Madrid lock horns tonight to see who can draw first blood at the Etihad Stadium. With a squad market value of €1.3 billion, Pep Guardiola’s English champions can boast of the most star-studded squad in the entire competition, but close behind them in second place are none other than Carlo Ancelotti’s European champions with a squad market value of €1.23b. Which unquestionably begs the question: which team has the most valuable players? Let’s take a look. 

When we rank by market value and then by age when two players in the same position have identical values, we get a starting XI like the one below. As we can see, the team is more or less split evenly, with Man City claiming six positions and Madrid claiming five to form a team that has a combined market value of €1.27b. And when we go through each position we can see why. 

Between the posts we have Man City shot-stopper Ederson, whose market value of €30m puts him narrowly ahead of his opposite number Thibaut Courtois (€25m). And across the back line it is unquestionably a strong showing from the English giants. On the left flank we have Josko Gvardiol with a market value of €75m, alongside Rico Lewis on the right flank with a market value of €40m. In both instances they far surpass Madrid’s go-to full-backs in Ferland Mendy (€18m) and Dani Carvajal (€10m). Ruben Dias is comfortably the most valuable central defender in either squad with a market value of €75m and is joined by Éder Militão, who shares an identical market value to Manuel Akanji at €40m but beats his Swiss counterpart on account of being younger. 

The midfield positions are undoubtedly fiercely contested between both clubs, with some of the best players in the world plying their trade in the middle of the pitch for either team. Despite that, Madrid claim both midfield spots due in no small part to Jude Bellingham’s market value of €180m far surpassing any midfielder at Man City, while Federico Valverde (€130m) beats out Rodri due to being two years younger than his Spanish counterpart. Such is the quality on show from both teams that Aurélien Tchouaméni and Eduardo Camavinga both miss out despite having market values of €80m. 

When it comes to the forward positions we have another tie between both clubs, with Vincius Jr claiming his preferred left wing spot thanks to his unbelievable market value of €200m while Man City star Phil Foden takes up his own preferred spot on the right wing due to his market value of €140m. Madrid do have a winger that has reached the €100m mark in Rodrygo, but he narrowly misses out due to Foden’s higher value. Then, to no great surprise, the two striker spots are undoubtedly reserved for Kylian Mbappé (€160m) and Erling Haaland (€200m) with both goalscorers enjoying market values that are more than double the next most valuable player forward in either squad, which happens to be Omar Marmoush (€60m).