The 10 most valuable teenagers in the world

Robin Bairner

• Updated: 16 Nov 2023 17:07 GMT
• 3 min read

The biggest clubs in the world are always seeking to steal a march of their rivals by signing up the game’s brightest talent at as young an age as possible.

While clubs like Barcelona have made their academy an integral part of their identity for others, such as Borussia Dortmund, it is a vital part of their business strategy. Signing up youngster and developing them into world-class talent is a profitable enterprise for clubs like BVB, who have notably performed the trick with Jude Bellingham, Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho in recent seasons.

REVEALED: The world’s most valuable footballers

Bellingham, the most valuable teenager in the world for a long time, recently turned 20 and thus drops out of this list which leaves Barcelona youngster Gavi as the sole leader of our top 10 - and by quite some margin, too.

FootballTransfers' in-house Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) uses hundreds of in-game data points to analyse the performance of thousands of players the world over and comes up with the players' values.

Football’s most valuable teenagers

Father Time is relentless and the past 12 months have seen a whole host of high-profile players exit their teenage years. Eduardo Camavinga, Jamal Musiala and Pedri are all in their 20s now. With such an illustrious crop of youngsters dropping out of contention, it leaves some surprising and perhaps unrecognisable names in this list.

Romeo Lavia has flown up the rankings since his big money move to Chelsea in the summer, while his teammate Lesley Ugochukwu also joins him in the top ten.

Manchester City youngster Rico Lewis is also considered one of the most valuable wonderkids in the world alongside Paris Saint-Germain star Warren Zaire-Emery and Ajax defender Jorrel Hato, both of whom are the youngest players in the top ten.

Champions League sensations Arthur Vermeeren and Roony Bardghji could be set for moves to big clubs in 2024 and their value could skyrocket, as well as Giorgio Scalvini and Youssoufa Moukoko, who make up the list.