Hernández comes closer
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At 37 years old, Lionel Messi remains at the top of the most valuable MLS players – although the Argentine superstar is once again devalued due to age. The world champion’s lead is getting smaller due to the minus in the new market value update of the North American elite league, but no player is moving significantly closer to the football legend from below. In Messi’s team at Inter Miami, young professional Diego Gómez (21) is reaping the benefits of the England rumors.
Cucho Hernández from Columbus Crew managed to close the gap behind Messi in the MLS market value update. The 25-year-old center forward climbs by 2 million euros to 15 million euros, putting him on par with Messi’s former Barcelona colleague Riqui Puig (25), but still 10 million euros behind the leader. Messi is devalued by 5 million euros and is now 25 million euros.
“Messi’s devaluation was inevitable,” explains Dominic Becker, data administrator at Transfermarkt for North America. “Despite his still incredible achievements, his age is becoming more of a factor. Injuries already took their toll last season. He has already missed ten games this season.” The result is Messi’s lowest market value since January 2006, when Barcelona’s record goalscorer was still struggling to make a breakthrough with the Catalans. Even after the devaluation, Messi remains the most valuable player over 34 years old in the world – followed by Robert Lewandowski and Cristiano Ronaldo. His lead in this list is as large as that in the MLS market value ranking.
Hernández on the way to becoming a top striker – Gómez plus before Brighton move
When it comes to scoring goals, Columbus striker Hernández cannot yet keep up with Messi. The veteran player scores almost one goal per game – 14 in 15 games. Hernández averages 0.65 league goals – 15 in 23 appearances – but expert Becker is certain: “He is on the way to becoming the best striker in the MLS. As a goalscorer, Hernández is almost impossible to defend and also has a good eye for his teammates. These attributes make him even more interesting for European clubs.” (To the MLS top scorer list)
Midfielder Gómez, who is in his second season at Messi’s Inter Miami after moving from Paraguay, has also aroused interest in Europe. The international struggled with injuries in both seasons, but has nevertheless become the focus of Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion. This also contributes to its new market value. The transfer fee is said to be around 13 million euros. The market value of Gómez, who scored Paraguay’s historic winning goal in the World Cup qualifier against Brazil (1-0), initially increases by 2 million to 10 million euros, an increase of 25 percent.
“Even regardless of the approaching transfer, Gómez has earned his increase in market value,” explains Becker. “He is a flexible player and has already scored six goals and seven assists in 21 games in all competitions for Inter Miami. Without his ankle injury, Gómez might have increased his value even further.”
Germans in the MLS: Devaluation for Mukhtar – Owusu moves into the top 10
When it comes to the devalued players, the focus is on Messi, but the focus is also on a player for whom quite a few people have been eyeing a return to Germany in recent years: ex-Herthan player Hany Mukhtar. In the current season, Nashville’s record scorer is clearly lagging behind his output from previous years. The top scorer and MVP of 2022 is also approaching 30 years old. For the Berlin native, this means a small devaluation of one million euros to 8 million euros.
This means that Mukhtar remains the most valuable German, ahead of Marco Reus (35, LA Galaxy) and Marcel Hartel (28, St. Louis City), who moved to the States in the summer, among others, whose market values will not initially change. Hartel colleague Cedric Teuchert in Missouri can increase by one million to 3 million euros, and with an increase of 800,000 euros to 2 million, Prince Osei Owusu (27, Toronto) moves into the top 10 of German professionals in the MLS .
This is how transfer market market values work
The transfer market market values are created taking into account various pricing models as well as a strong involvement of the transfer market community, which deals with the values in detailed discussions. The transfer market market values cannot generally be equated with the transfer fees actually paid.
The goal is not to predict a price, but rather an expected value. When determining the market value, both individual transfer modalities and situational conditions are relevant to a certain extent. Examples of this will be here listed. Transfermarkt does not use an algorithm (for a detailed definition of market value).
