Barcelona snapped up Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund this past summer to fill the gap left by Neymar, and it appears his value has already increased.
As reported by The Guardian, they will eventually spend €147m in total on the 20-year-old, with the deal broken into two parts made up of an initial €105m and an additional €42m in add-ons.
However, CIES have conducted their own football study on the transfer values of players around Europe, something they describe as a scientific estimation of players’ value which is formulated by considering inflation, expensive transfers to other teams, contract extensions and performance on the pitch.
Using their algorithm, they’ve deduced that Dembele was worth €92.5m on July 1, but that figure has now increased to €137.5m, a rise of €45m in the space of three months.
Sadly, performance can’t be considered too much in this situation as the French international had only made three brief appearances for Barcelona before he sustained a hamstring injury which required surgery last month.
In turn, his form on his return could increase his valuation further, but for now, taking into consideration his summer move to the Nou Camp and all that comes with it, he’s actually been valued at roughly the same amount that the Catalan giants spent to sign him which suggests it was decent business.
It’s a fascinating study that CIES have put together, with Dembele ranking fourth in the list of 100 players, with only Romelu Lukaku, Kylian Mbappe and Paulo Dybala enjoying bigger increases.