Market values Argentina: Man City signing Álvarez now sole leader - De la Cruz drops

Shortly before the start of the Argentinian Liga Profesional, which kicks off next weekend with the first matchday of the Copa de la Liga, Transfermarkt.ar has updated the market values. The biggest winner and also the sole most valuable player is Julián Álvarez, a footballer who will no longer be part of River Plate’s squad at the end of the season.

On Deadline Day, the reigning titleholders officially announced the 22-year-old’s transfer to Manchester City after months of negotiations and speculation. The English champions paid €17 million for the right-footed centre-forward, whose contract at his youth club would have expired at the end of the year, but the clubs agreed that Álvarez will remain on loan in Argentina until the summer.

Álvarez increased his value by €3 million to €23 million, the fourth consecutive upgrade in exactly one year. The reason for the recent rise was the interest of many other top European clubs following 42 goal contributions in 46 matches. In addition to the Citizens, Real Madrid, Milan clubs AC and Inter, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen and Ajax were reportedly interested.

Liga Profesional market values: Almada behind Álvarez - Vázquez on the up

With his new market value, Álvarez leaves Thiago Almada behind in the league-wide ranking, alongside whom he had previously been the joint leader. While the Vélez Sarsfield star, who is on the verge of completing a transfer to MLS side Atlanta United, has stagnated at his value since 2020, the soon-to-be Man City striker also climbs in the rankings of the most valuable Argentines, replacing Giovani Lo Celso (Villarreal) in 15th place.

On the losing side, one of Álvarez's teammates is hit the hardest. Nicolás de la Cruz, a 12-time Uruguay international, loses €2 million as a result of a season-ending foot injury – the biggest downgrade of the update. Nevertheless, the 24-year-old is able to maintain his status as the third most valuable player in the league, now worth €16 million.

TM advanced search Almada & Co. - The most valuable players from Buenos Aires Click here for overview Arch-rivals Boca Juniors’ most valuable player, Cristian Pavón, is also going down. The 26-year-old has played a very inconsistent season and looks set to leave the club on a free transfer in the summer. A drop of €1.5 million to €8.5 million means the attacking player remains at the top of the club-internal ranking, but he faces his lowest value since 2017.

Much was said about the lack of a centre-forward at Boca, but – at only 20 years of age – Luis Vázquez emerged. In a team in transition, which lacked clarity in attack, the youngster managed to contribute seven goals and two assists in 23 appearances. His market value rises by €2 million to €3.8 million.

How Transfermarkt market values work

The Transfermarkt market values are calculated, taking into account various pricing models. A major factor is the Transfermarkt community, whose members discuss and evaluate player market values in detail. In general, the Transfermarkt market values are not to be equated with transfer fees. 

The goal is not to predict a price but an expected value of a player in a free market. Both individual transfer modalities and situational conditions are relevant in determining market values. Examples of this are listed below. Transfermarkt does not use an algorithm (you can find the detailed market value definition here).