Manchester City and Real Madrid take up a combined eight places in a superb World XI put together based on market value by Transfermarkt.
With only one striker in the line up, there’s no room for Man City goal machine Erling Haaland, with Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe taking that spot, though there are other big names from Pep Guardiola’s squad in there, including England winger Phil Foden.
Jude Bellingham and Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold are two other English players in the team, while Arsenal’s William Saliba joins the Reds defender and City duo Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol in an all-Premier League back four.
The surprise name in there is Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa, valued at €45m, though in fairness he’s been a superb performer for club and country in recent times and seems likely to earn a big move before too long.
World’s most valuable XI in full…
That’s certainly one hell of a team, even if some fans will question how an in-form player like Haaland can be left out, while others like Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka also surely can’t be too far away from being among the most valuable in world football.
It’s also worth noting that this will be biased towards younger players, meaning other big names like Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk would also be less likely to make the line up now even if in reality there’s a strong case for saying they remain just as valuable in their current form as many of the names in this team.
Even if it’s not something to be taken too seriously, it’s intriguing to see how different market values compare and how close a most valuable XI might be to a genuine best in the world line up based on pure ability and achievement alone.