Crystal Palace defender named in top five most valuable European breakthrough prospects
Crystal Palace and England defender Marc Guehi has placed fifth in a list of the most valuable young footballers.
The CIES Football Observatory listed the top 50 players to have made their debut this season in one of Europe’s top five leagues before turning 23.
Ex-Chelsea centre back Guehi has an estimated transfer value of €50m, according to CIES, after making his Premier League debut for Patrick Vieira this campaign.
The 21-year-old moved to Palace last summer for £18m and has made 35 appearances as well as earning his first senior England cap, playing the full 90 minutes in last month’s 2-1 win over Switzerland.
RB Leipzig’s pair of Joško Gvardiol and Dominik Szoboszlai topped the rankings with values of €96.2m and €60.3m respectively, with Barcelona’s Pablo Gavi placing third at €58.6m and being the youngest on the list at just 17 years old.
Guehi’s Palace teammate Michael Olise also made the top 20, in 16th with a value of €22.4m, after impressing following an £8m summer move from Reading.
The France Under-21 international winger has made 26 appearances under Vieira, scoring four goals, but has missed the last two games through injury.
Everton left-back Vitaliy Mykolenko placed 26th with a value of €15.8m, either side of two Arsenal players, midfielder Albert Sambi Lokonga in 18th with a value of €20.5m and full-back Nuno Tavares in 27th with €15.7m.
Southampton full-back Valentino Livramento, another former Chelsea youth product who left the club last year, also made the list in 14th with a value of €23.7m.
Norwich’s Greek forward Christos Tzolis is in 45th with €10.7m and Burnley centre-back Nathan Collins is 47th with €10.1m.