Lamine Yamal, the World’s Most Valuable Player.
Lamine Yamal begins this year with his continued appearance at the top of the global rankings.
The world's most valuable player
Lamine Yamal, Barcelona's 18-year-old right winger, remains the world's most valuable player entering the year 2026. According to the CIES Football Observatory's statistical model, the young Spaniard is valued at €343 million.
According to CIES, Lamine Yamal surpasses Kylian Mbappé (€255 million) and Erling Haaland (€201 million) in value, established forwards who perform well and score goals regularly, although with a few more years of experience.
In January last year, the leader of this list was Jude Bellingham, who is valued at €153 million and now ranks fourth in this classification.
Hegemonic value
The hegemonic and growing value of Barcelona's young star continues to impress and, in this case, he manages to fervently impose himself on a list full of players who are crucial to their clubs and nations, some with more years of experience than the Spanish national.
His closest teammate is Pedri González, a 23-year-old Spanish midfielder valued at €130 million, who ranks tenth in the list.
Other wingers on the list
Lamine Yamal tops the list as a right winger, while his counterpart, Bayern Munich winger Michael Olise, takes fifth place with a valuation of €136 million. While just behind him, only €2 million less in value, is French player Désiré Doué of Paris Saint-Germain, who is in seventh place with €134 million and is 20 years old. This value would indicate a possible analysis by the soccer world of Yamal's great future potential and his good performance in the present.
