Serie A market values: Eriksen in free fall - Morata among biggest winners

Transfermarkt.it has revised all Serie A market values shortly before the start of the winter transfer window. The update involves revaluations of nearly 600 player profiles – including that of the world’s second biggest market value loser in 2020: Christian Eriksen. At the time of his transfer from Tottenham to Inter Milan in January, the 28-year-old playmaker was valued at €90 million. Almost exactly eleven months later, Eriksen dropped to just €35 million.

“The Dane has suffered a dramatic fall in terms of status,” Jatin Dietl (Jeidl), area manager TM Italy, says. “From the beginning, Eriksen didn’t fit into Antonio Conte’s system – that has not changed until today. While Conte himself doesn’t seem to make much of an effort to find a place for him, the player himself has also barely integrated and has never been able to take advantage of the few chances he has had. In recent weeks, he has been virtually dismantled by the coach with substitutions into the game at the final whistle and was publicly put on the transfer list by Inter recently. Eriksen’s abilities are undisputed. At Inter, however, he has not been able to show them at any point. Despite his contract until 2024, the Nerazzurri can’t expect a high transfer fee; his salary of €7.5 million net a year is too high for that. The coronavirus crisis and its effects on the transfer market are aggravating. Also because of this, the next devaluation by €15 million follows.”

Although sitting in second place in the league behind city rivals AC Milan, Inter’s season has been less than satisfactory to date, and not just for Eriksen. In the Champions League, they were once again eliminated in the group stage – even finishing in last place. The value of the squad dropped by around €40 million, leaving Inter just ahead of Borussia Dortmund in twelfth place in the international club rankings. In addition to Eriksen, out-of-form defender Stefan de Vrij (-€5 million) and veterans Alexis Sánchez (-€6 million) and Ivan Perisic (-€5 million) were downgraded.

Barella, Jorginho & Co. The most valuable Italian players Click here for overview Bucking the trend, star striker Romelu Lukaku, midfield powerhouse Nicolò Barella and talented defender Alessandro Bastoni are all being upgraded. “Lukaku is Inter’s life insurance and has been in top form for months. He will be upgraded by €5 million to €90 million,” Italy expert Dietl says. “Barella has developed into one of Inter’s most important players under Conte and takes responsibility like no other, and Bastoni is now an international.” The two Italians also rise by €5 million to €55 million (Barella) and €50 million (Bastoni) respectively.

Winners of the Serie A update: Juventus‘ Morata, Milan’s Bennacer & Co.

Meanwhile, the biggest upgrade of this round of new market values, €10 million, is received by Juventus striker Álvaro Morata, who now stands at €50 million. The 28-year-old could cost the Old Lady a total of €55 million if the purchase option will be exercised – an amount that the record titleholders should be happy to invest should the Spaniard maintain his form. “Morata harmonises wonderfully with Cristiano Ronaldo, who remains at €60 million, and already has ten goals and seven assists in 17 games in all competitions,” Dietl explains. “He hasn’t presented himself in such a strong form in years.”

The same remains true for the men around Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The self-proclaimed “Benjamin Button” of the football world still scores more often than he starts a match, even at his high footballing age, and has carried the whole team since the beginning of the year. The Swede’s market value is symbolically increased by another €1.5 million to €5 million. The increase is much steeper for some of his teammates. Milan are the youngest top team in Europe and, after the next increase in squad value by €41.4 million to €487.3 million, are gradually approaching past glorious times.

Responsible for this is Theo Hernández, among others, who after the next upgrade of €5 million to €50 million sits in a joint-third place in the international rankings of all left-backs. The midfield centre of Franck Kessié, Ismaël Bennacer and Hakan Calhanoglu is one of the showpieces of Milan head coach Stefano Pioli’s system. The former are adjusted by €5 million and €7 million to €40 million, respectively, while Calhanoglu also gains €5 million and is now valued at €35 million. The Turkish international has never been worth more. Things are also getting better for Davide Calabria (+€8 million), Alexis Saelemaekers (+€3 million) and Jens Petter Hauge (+€6 million).

Poor form, age & market trend - Downgrades for Dybala, Koulibaly & Co.

Overall, however, the trend in the year of the coronavirus pandemic continues to point downward for Serie A. Only by selling shares of its own marketing rights to investors, the Italian league recently managed to save several clubs from imminent bankruptcy. Expectations of transfer fees in the coming transfer periods are correspondingly low.

Two of the biggest devalued players, Paulo Dybala and Arthur, are not directly affected by this, however - in the case of the Juventus players, the update has mainly performance-related reasons, area manager Dietl says: “Dybala barely gets going under Andrea Pirlo after injury and illness problems at the start of the season. He has only scored two goals and it is difficult to give him the attribute of ‘regular player’ at the moment. At €70 million now, he is at the lowest point in three years. Arthur has not been able to make a lasting impact so far, and is often rotated in and out by Pirlo.” Both drop by €10 million, Arthur is now worth €50 million.

There is an age- and market-related devaluation for Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly, who will turn 30 at the end of the season and may have missed the last chance to generate a high transfer fee in the summer of 2019. Rumours about a concrete interest of Manchester City turned out to be false in retrospect, the Citizens had never been in contact with the Azzurri. After a minus of €5 million to €60 million, the Senegalese is still the second most valuable defender in Serie A behind Juve’s Matthijs de Ligt (+€5 million to €75 million), however.

After the update: Play the Serie A edition of "What's my value?" now!

Ad: £1.7m+ paid in fantasy prizes at Footstock, 18+ UK Only