Marcus Rashford crowned world's most valuable footballer at £150m ahead of Haaland, Mbappe

Man United superstar Marcus Rashford has been ranked as the world's most valuable footballer, according to the latest calculations by CIES Football Observatory. The English forward's value has skyrocketed to a whopping £150m on the back of a free-scoring season for the Red Devils as he pipped the likes of Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe to claim the top spot. Surprisingly, Barcelona captain Lionel Messi dropped to 97th on the list of most valuable players. 

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Marcus Rashford tops CIES Football's most valuable players list 

Earlier on Wednesday, CIES Football Observatory released its list of most valuable players in the world with Rashford topping the list. The organization uses a number of criteria to judge player’s value including - but not limited to - age, contract duration, sporting level, international status and inflation. That data is applied to footballers across Europe’s top five leagues – Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1.

Marcus Rashford's value has soared this season on account of 14 goals and seven assists he has racked up for United as well as the fact that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team can be considered Premier League title contenders. At just 23, he is contracted to the Old Trafford outfit until 2023 with the option of a further year.

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Dortmund forward Erling Haaland (£138 million) grabbed the second spot on the list while Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold (£137 million) came in third. Rashford's Man United teammate Bruno Fernades (£136 million) finished in fourth place while PSG superstar Kylian Mbappe (£135 million) came in at fifth. Mbappe, who was leading the charts last season, has only 18 months left on his current deal with the Parisians. 

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Borussia Dortmund's Jadon Sancho (£134.1m), Atletico Madrid's Joao Felix (£128m), Bayern Munich's Alphonso Davies (£126m), Man City's Raheem Sterling (£123.9m) and Chelsea's Kai Havertz (£123m) made up the top 10. 

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Six-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi, who has just six months left on his current deal with Barcelona, only just managed to scrape into the top 100 list. The 33-year-old Argentine was ranked 97th on the list of most valuable players in the world. 

Juventus superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, 35, was placed 131st at £42.5m because of his age and the 18 months left on his contract with the Serie A giants. 

Image Credits - Man United Instagram