Covering European newspapers on a daily basis, we’ve become pretty used to bias from the local media around the continent, but sometimes, it goes a tad too far.
Tuttosport on Thursday had a big two page spread about squad prices, and their proud claim is that Juventus (€887m) have the fourth most valuable side in Europe, ahead of the likes of Bayern Munich (€847m), Manchester United (€760m), Manchester City (€733m) and Chelsea (€767m).
At first glance, that’s not all that crazy, but then you look at the breakdown of the valuations, and that’s when you realise this might not have been a fair assessment.
Let’s start with Juventus’ squad to give you an idea of where the money comes from.
Straight away you notice that more than a third of the valuation comes from two players: Gonzalo Higuain (€130m) and Paulo Dybala (€200m).
In a world where Neymar fetches you €222m, it’s not entirely unfair to think that someone like the former Palermo starlet would cost a similar amount, especially without a release clause.
As for Higuain, he cost Juventus around €90m, and scored 32 goals last season in all competitions, so to say his value increase, even at 29, is acceptable.
The next large chunk comes from Alex Sandro at €70m, which, again, is fair, considering that’s what Chelsea were prepared to pay for him over the summer.
That’s €400m for three players, with the remaining €487m split between 20 players, with Miralem Panic valued at €50m, Daniele Rugani at €40m, which also happens to be Bernardeschi’s value.
Considering he cost the Blues around €80m, why has he already gone up €30m when Romelu Lukaku, who cost €90m or so, is valued at €90m by Tuttosport.
That’s just a small discrepancy, though.
Some of the valuations in Antonio Conte’s side are close to criminal.
César Azpilicueta valued at €10m, Thibaut Courtois at €40m, Willian at €30m, and Danny Drinkwater, who just cost Chelsea £34m, being labelled as €10m all stand out as gross undervaluations by Tuttosport,
Look at Manchester United, and it’s very similar.
We already mentioned Lukaku, but Phil Jones at €10m while Chris Smalling is at €15m? We’re not so sure.
De Gea as a €40m goalkeeper is laughable, so is Marcus Rashford at €50m, and would Paul Pogba, in today’s market still ‘only’ cost €110m?
There are some slight overvaluations there, too, such as Sergio Romero being worth €20m.
Finally, Manchester City.
Considering he was just bought for €40m or so, having Ederson at that price is fair, but it just shows how ridiculous the De Gea and Courtois valuations are.
Then there’s David Silva and his €10m price tag. Where do we even start with that one?
Moving onto Sergio Agüero: if Gonzalo Higuain is worth €130m, you cannot tell us the Argentinean would only cost €60m in this day and age.
The same applies for Kevin De Bruyne and his €60m, and is Raheem Sterling at €60m also worth more than Marcus Rashford these days?
So. Many. Questions.
Tuttosport try to explain themselves by saying ‘the valuations you read in the above-mentioned infographic are related to a possible price on the market and are therefore affected by factors such as age and duration of the contract’, but we think they forgot to add ‘and our slight bias/delusion’.
