Lionel Messi is the world's most expensive player - CIES

Based on the data released by CIES Football Observatory, Lionel Messi is the world's most expensive player with a tag of £163million while his Barceloba teammate, Neymar is close on his heels at £155million. Predictably, C Ronaldo is not too far behind in third place at £106million while Antoine Griezmann and Tottenham striker Harry Kane make up the top five on the hundred-strong list. 


The values of the players are based on several different variables including age, length of current contract and potential suitors. All 100 players in the list are employed by clubs in Europe's top five leagues - Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1. 

The likes of Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic do not feature on the list because of their age at 30 and 34 respectively. See the full list below.

CIES FOOTBALL OBSERVATORY'S VALUATION ON TOP 100 PLAYERS 

1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) - £163m
2. Neymar (Barcelona) - £155m
3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) - £106m
4. Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid) - £93m
5. Harry Kane (Tottenham) - £87m
6. Anthony Martial (Man United) - £86m
7. Luis Suarez (Barcelona) - £81m
8. Paulo Dybala (Juventus) - £80m
9. Sergio Aguero (Man City) - £75m
10. Paul Pogba (Juventus) - £70m
11. Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) - £62m
12. Eden Hazard (Chelsea) - £60m
13. Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) - £58m
14. Dele Alli (Tottenham) - £58m
15. Thomas Muller (Bayern) - £57m
16. Raheem Sterling (Man City) - £56m
17. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern) - £52m
18. Alvaro Morata (Juventus) - £50m
19. Toni Kroos (Real Madrid) - £48m
20. Gonzalo Higuain (Napoli) - £47m
21. Isco (Real Madrid) - £47m
22. P.E Aubameyang (Dortmund) - £48m
23. James Rodriguez (Real Madrid) - £45m
24. Romelu Lukaku (Everton) - £45m
25. Hector Bellerin (Arsenal) - £43m
26. Kevin De Bruyne (Man City) - £43m
27. Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool) - £40m
28. Yannick Carrasco (Atletico Madrid) - £39m
29. Willian (Chelsea) - £39m
30. Koke (Atletico Madrid) - £39m
31. Mauro Icardi (Inter Milan) - £38m
32. Diego Costa (Chelsea) - £38m
33. Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) - £38m
34. David Alaba (Bayern) - £38m
35. Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea) - £37m
36. Eric Dier (Tottenham) - £37m
37. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) - £37m
38. Sergio Busquets (Barcelona) - £37m
39. Raphael Varane (Real Madrid) - £36m
40. Christian Eriksen (Tottenham) - £36m
41. David de Gea (Man United) - £36m
42. Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea) - £35m
43. Nicolas Otamendi (Man City) - £35m
44. N'Golo Kante (Leicester) - £34m
45. Douglas Costa (Bayern) - £34m
46. Memphis Depay (Man United) - £34m
47. Riyad Mahrez (Leicester) - £33m
48. Pedro (Chelsea) - £33m
49. Lucas Moura (PSG) - £33m
50. Jerome Boateng (Bayern) - £33m
51. Saul Niguez (Atletico Madrid) - £32m
52. Alexandre Lacazette (Lyon) - £32m
53. Andre Gomes (Valencia) - £32m
54. Olivier Giroud (Arsenal) - £32m
55. Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid) - £31m
56. Virgil van Dijk (Southampton) - £31m
57. Daley Blind (Man United) - £31m
58. Ross Barkley (Everton) - £31m
59. Emre Can (Liverpool) - £30m
60. Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona) - £30m
61. Marco Verratti (PSG) - £30m
62. Mohamed Salah (Roma) - £30m
63. Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus) - £30m
64. John Stones (Everton) - £29m
65. Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) - £29m
66. Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal) - £29m
67. Erik Lamela (Tottenham) - £29m
68. Nemanja Matic (Chelsea) - £29m
69. Oscar (Chelsea) - £29m
70. Juan Mata (Man United) - £28m
71. Giannelli Imbula (Stoke) - £28m
72. Manuel Neuer (Bayern) - £28m
73. Angel di Maria (PSG) - £27m
74. Sadio Mane (Southampton) - £27m
75. Carlos Bacca (AC Milan) - £27m
76. Son Heung-min (Tottenham) - £27m
77. Felipe Anderson (Lazio) - £27m
78. Jamie Vardy (Leicester) - £27m
79. Denis Suarez (Villarreal) - £27m
80. Dimitri Payet (West Ham) - £26m
81. Leroy Sane (Schalke) - £26m
82. Marquinhos (PSG) - £26m
83. Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Dortmund) - £26m
84. Chris Smalling (Man United) - £25m
85. Radja Nainggolan (Roma) - £25m
86. Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen) - £25m
87. Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace) - £25m
88. Bernardo Silva (Monaco) - £24m
89. Kostas Manolas (Roma) - £24m
90. Gerard Pique (Barcelona) - £24m
91. Paco Alcacer (Valencia) - £24m
92. Miralem Pjanic (Roma) - £24m
93. Danilo (Real Madrid) - £24m
94. Alessandro Florenzi (Roma) - £24m
95. Jordon Ibe (Liverpool) - £23m
96. Marco Reus (Dortmund) - £23m
97. David Silva (Manchester City) - £23m
98. Joe Hart (Manchester City) - £23m
99. Marcelo (Real Madrid) - £23m
100. Jonathan Tah (Bayer Leverkusen) - £22m

All values are rounded to the nearest million. Figures courtesy of Football Observatory.