We tell you how the cost of RPL players has changed at the end of the season.
The market value of a player is always a little abstract. The final transfer price is affected not only by the level of play for a particular period, but also by many other factors, including the player’s age, the expiration date of the contract, and, finally, the ability of the buyer to noticeably overpay.
The Transfermarkt website has been evaluating players around the world for many years. It is his data that is usually taken as a basis when they want to find out how much this or that football player costs right now. Even with all the conventions of prices, these numbers give an idea of the value of a particular player. Every two or three months their cost is recalculated. So at the end of the season in the RPL, the portal rolled out new data.
Some of the changes look very significant.
In “Zenith” all Brazilians have risen in price except Mantuan
Zenit is by far the owner of the most expensive squad in the league with a total cost of 170 million euros for 23 players. This is almost twice as high as the closest pursuers – CSKA (90.10 million euros) and Spartak (88.80 million euros), which, moreover, were estimated at three players more.
Over the past couple of months, seven Zenit players have risen noticeably in price: Malcolm, Wendel, Claudinho, Douglas Santos, Rodrigao, Renan and Ivan Sergeev. The top RPL scorer of the past season, Malcolm, added €3 million in a short period of time, and has already risen in price by €8 million since last summer. The total value of Malcolm after a bright season reached €30 million – the first line in the entire league. The rest of the foreigners have risen in price by €2 million, and the only non-naturalized Russian on this list, Ivan Sergeev, has added another million to his value.
The most expensive Russian in Zenit, Daler Kuzyaev, remained at the same price level compared to April – € 10 million. It will be even more offensive for the club to part with him for free this summer: the midfielder, who will become a free agent, is aiming to move to another championship. Also, the price of Vyacheslav Karavaev, Andrey Mostovoy, Mantua, Dmitry Chistyakov, Nuraly Alip, Mikhail Kerzhakov and Alexander Vasyutin has not changed.
There are also players in Zenit who have fallen in price recently, but the decrease in their value is quite insignificant: Zelimkhan Bakaev, Alexei Sutormin and Arsen Adamov lost €200,000 each, Danil Krugovoy, Daniil Odoevsky and Alexander Erokhin lost €300,000 each, and Here Wilmar Barrios fell immediately by € 2 million, but still remains one of the most expensive players in the league.
At the end of the season, all places in the top 5 RPL according to this indicator belong exclusively to Zenit: Malcom (30 million), Wendel (24 million), Claudinho (20 million), Barrios and Santos (18 million each).
Unique Fedotov effect
It is customary to evaluate the coach first of all by the results, the eye-pleasing game is also taken into account, but no less important factor is the ability to develop each individual player. This will benefit not only on the field, but also significantly increase the overall capitalization of the squad. In this sense, Vladimir Fedotov is a real find for CSKA. The new coach not only led the team to the first medals in five years, but also helped raise the price of most of the players.
Willian Rocha / Photo: ©
PFC CSKAThe leaders of the army went up in price throughout the season, and the final segment was no exception, in which silver was mined and the Cup of Russia was won. Willian Roshi has the most impressive progress of the year. The Brazilian, bought for 2 million euros, managed to rise in price to 7 million. The biggest increase happened just in the last two months (+3.5 million).
A powerful spring allowed other legionnaires to pump well: Moises (+2 million), Victor Mendez (+1.5 million), Jesus Medina (+1 million), Baktier Zainutdinov (+1 million), Milan Gayich (+0.5 million ) and Sasha Zdelar (0.5 million). In addition to them, three Russians in the prime of life went up in price (age is one of the most important factors in pricing). For example, 38-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo is now valued at the same 15 million euros as 20-year-old Arsen Zakharyan.
Fedotov’s unique effect helped Felor Chalov remember the taste of goals and rise in price to 12 million euros over the season (+2 million in recent months). Ivan Oblyakov doubled in price over the year – from 5 to 10 million. Igor Diveev made some price progress, the value of which did not change from June to April, but at the end of the season Transfermarkt added 1.5 million to him, and the total price reached 7.5 million.
Of course, the actions of the coach can not only increase the value of the player. The reverse situation happened in the spring with Jorge Carrascal, whom Fedotov moved to the reserve. Over the past couple of months, the Colombian has fallen in price by 1 million euros, although after a bright start to the season, on the contrary, it has noticeably risen in price. In such a situation, the club needs to quickly look for a buyer for a technical, but not fitting winger coach, while there is a chance to get at least 6 million euros for him, for which he was acquired.
The rapid fall of Maksimenko
Photo: © Mikhail Zimin / Match TV
How much hitting the dead stock hits the price can be seen on the example of Spartak goalkeeper Alexander Maksimenko. Two years ago, he was quoted as highly as possible, and in front of his name stood an impressive 13 million euros. The shocking price drop schedule coincided with the lost competition to Alexander Selikhov: December 2021 – 9 million, June 2022 – 2.5 million, June 2023 – 1.8 million. It is not surprising that now Spartak is actively engaged in the employment of Maksimenko looking for a club to rent.
If, relative to the previous revaluation, Maksimenko fell slightly in price, then the price of winter newcomer Alexis Duarte fell immediately by 25%: from 4 to 3 million. In addition to them, the “shares” of Viktor Moses, Nailya Umyarov, Georgy Jikia fell (all – minus 0.5 million) and Maciej Rybus (-0.2 million).
Despite a strong season, Quincy Promes’ best player has risen in price by only 2m (from 9m to 11m) compared to last year, and his price has not changed over the past two months. The reason is banal and related to the age of the player: if the Dutchman had given such a season at the age of 20, in terms of price, he could well be quoted at the level of Malcolm. At the age of 31, it is much more difficult to noticeably add in value.
Ruslan Litvinov has the most impressive progress among the Red-Whites both in terms of the season and the final segment. Over the year, the station wagon added 416% in price, having risen in price from 1.2 to 5 million euros. Each update on Transfermarkt during the season (there were four in total) was marked by the growth of Litvinov. Over the past two months, it has risen in price by another million.
Tomas Tavares grew by the same amount over this period (up to 3 million), but a few days after the update, the fullback was seriously injured. Now, during the recovery after the rupture of the cruciate ligaments, the price of the Portuguese will certainly go in the opposite direction.
Anton Zinkovsky (up to 4 million), Daniil Denisov (4 million), Keita Balde (2.5 million) and Nikita Chernov (2 million) have recently risen in price by 500 thousand euros. Alexander Selikhov and Pavel Meleshin became more expensive for symbolic sums: 200 and 100 thousand, respectively.
Safonov is the most expensive Russian in the RPL
The disastrous segment at the finish line did not prevent Matvey Safonov from growing in price by another million and reaching the mark of 16 million. Now he alone leads the list of the most expensive Russians in the RPL, and among all compatriots second only to Alexander Golovin (25 million).
Photo: © Denis Bushkovsky / Match TV
Safonov, after a minimal decline in November, returned to the figures of a year ago. But the title of the most progressive player in the league deserves his teammate Eduard Spertsyan, who has doubled in price since June 2022 – from 6 to 12 million euros. Now it is he who is the most expensive Armenian footballer in the world, but here the age factor must also be taken into account. The level of play of 34-year-old Inter midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan (6 million) may be higher, but the prospects of 23-year-old Spertsyan make such a difference in value. This summer, Krasnodar will have a great opportunity to sell their leader at the peak of the price.
The disastrous season of Dynamo brought down the prices of many players. Worst of all in this sense is Fedor Smolov, who would have fallen in price anyway due to age, and coupled with a weak result, the fall became even faster. Only in recent months – minus 2 million euros.
Now Konstantin Tyukavin, who is 13 years younger than Smolov, costs more than 2 times more than his star teammate (7 and 3 million, respectively). At the same time, the price of a young striker has never changed over the year. The same applies to Arsen Zakharyan, whose value froze at around 15 million. The club’s weak performance and the lack of progress in the game of the midfielder himself did not allow the player to increase the market value.
From the players of the other teams, several important characters should be noted. In Lokomotiv, Artem Karpukas, who became the opening of the season, went up all year. In the summer of 2022, the price tag for him was only 400 thousand euros, and now a solid 5 million flaunt in front of his name. In the last two months alone, he added another 66% to the cost.
The Argentine midfielders Lucas Vera and Brian Mansilla pumped very cool in Orenburg, who at the finish line went up by another 500 and 400 thousand, respectively. Now for these guys you can get good money for Russia, and Dynamo is seen as the main contender for 26-year-old players.
Another tidbit on the summer transfer market is 23-year-old Rostov defender Danil Glebov, who has been steadily growing in price throughout the year. The last segment was no exception, which added another 500 thousand to the cost. Transfermarkt now values him at €8m. Spartak, which is considered the main contender for the leader of the Rostovites, will need to fork out for about the same amount.
