Real Madrid's king: Bellingham has already surpassed Mbappe

Yanick Vos

• Updated: 12 Dec 2023 15:40 GMT
• 4 min read

Jude Bellingham can now call himself the second most expensive player in the world.

Thanks to an increase in his Estimated Transfer Value (ETV), the Real Madrid midfielder is now worth €135 million. He has surpassed Kylian Mbappe and now only has Erling Haaland ahead of him.

Bellingham moved from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid last summer for a fee of €103m. With his goals in both LaLiga and the Champions League, the English international has already proven his value to Los Blancos.

In LaLiga, Bellingham has 12 goals and two assists after 14 games. He has also been important in the group stage of the Champions League. The midfielder has scored four times and provided another two assists in four games. With his scoring ability, he is one of the biggest revelations of this season.

Bellingham surpasses Mbappe

His excellent performances in the Real Madrid shirt have an effect on his ETV. When he moved from Dortmund to the Santiago Bernabéu last summer, he was worth €110m. That amount has risen sharply in recent months, reaching a record high of €135m this month.

With his new value, Bellingham has stormed past Kylian Mbappe. The Paris Saint-Germain attacker saw his value drop this month from €136m to €133m.

This striking decline cannot be separated from Mbappe's expiring contract. PSG have thus far failed to extend his deal, meaning he can leave on a free transfer after this season., which naturally doesn't benefit his ETV.

Erling Haaland tops the list

Mbappe has now been overtaken by Bellingham, who in turn has to tolerate only Erling Haaland in front of him. Manchester City's Norwegian striker still has the highest ETV of any player in the world. Just like last month, his value has been determined at €144.2m.

Haaland cost City 'only' €60m in the summer of 2022 due to a clause in his contract with Dortmund. Not long after his move from BVB to the Cityzens, his ETV shot up to a record high of €150m. Today his value is slightly below that.

The top three most expensive footballers in the world stand head and shoulders above the rest. Harry Kane is number four in the rankings at quite a distance with an ETV of €108.5m. The Bayern Munich striker remains just ahead of his compatriot Bukayo Saka. The Arsenal winger has an ETV of €104.5m.