As the 2024/25 season comes to a close, everyone is keeping one eye on the horizon for the upcoming summer 2025 transfer market, and Transfermarkt has recently updated their list of market values.
While we can all have our quibbles with Transfermarkt’s valuation of players, they generally do an excellent job of capturing the overall sentiment of the perception of player values across leagues, fanbases, and nationalities.
Studying them can help expose which players are overvalued and undervalued, and, often, a trend emerges that certain teams and leagues are more or less appropriately valued than others.
So in that vein, let’s take a look at the 10 most undervalued footballers in the world right now, finding a balance among attacking players and defenders, world-class players who are still not getting their due and the gems who aren’t yet household names.
All figures are in euros.
Real Madrid FW Rodrygo Goes 100M
Although the secret is out on Rodrygo Goes, it’s wild to see that he’s “only” worth 100 million euros. Yes, that’s a lot of money, but there are unproven players who, every year, are signed for as much – or more – money on the open transfer market.
When Rodrygo’s teammate Jude Bellingham singles him out as THE best player on the world’s most star-studded team, it becomes a little ludicrous to see that this all-world forward with game-winning Champions League moments is rated as less valuable than the likes of Declan Rice and Phil Foden.
Bayern Munich RW Michael Olise 65M
It still seems like people are slow to recognize that Michael Olise is one of the world’s elite footballers, even though he did it in the Premier League and is now building an even bigger star for himself with Bayern Munich – one of the world’s three most prestigious clubs.
Olise is a left-footed right winger who is only 23, can score and assist, and will be one of the next building blocks for Bayern. It’s absurd to think that Luis Diaz, Kai Havertz, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Victor Osimhen are seen as being more valuable.
PSG RB Achraf Hakimi, 60M
Achraf Hakimi is having a season for the ages at PSG, and with Dani Carvajal currently out for the season and Trent Alexander-Arnold absent in some big games, you have to say that Hakimi has built a strong case for himself as the world’s best right back right now.
A Serie A and Ligue 1 champion, Hakimi is on the road to becoming a Champions League winner if PSG can pull it off this season. He leads the attack from the start with unstoppable ball progression and has improved substantially as a defender.
He has 10 goal contributions as a right back to go with 2.2 key passes per game and 3.3 combined tackles and interceptions per game.
PSG LB Nuno Mendes, 55M
Ask yourself this: Which left back in the world would you rather buy than Nuno Mendes? He’s more consistent and a substantially better defender than Theo Hernandez, while the same exact sentiment can be said about Mendes over Alphonso Davies – except switching defense for offense.
Mendes is a complete player who has more than lived up to the hype as a touted prospect at Sporting CP. The Portuguese left back is the one instance where PSG got one over on Real Madrid, big time.
PSG CB Willian Pacho, 40M
A gem of the Belgian league, Willian Pacho is the best-kept secret at the center back position among Europe’s elite, and you can only name a handful of central defenders who deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as him this season.
Pacho is worth double what Transfermarkt has him down as, because he is shutting everyone down at the age of 23 while playing with immense pressure on his back.
This season, Pacho is averaging 3.6 combined tackles and interceptions, 3.2 clearances per game, and allowing just 0.3 dribbles completed per contest.
Eintracht Frankfurt ST Hugo Ekitike, 40M
Hugo Ekitike runs the show in Frankfurt, and you can see why clubs like Arsenal are being linked to the young Frenchman. But these same clubs should be showing a lot more interest in Ekitike than they are currently.
A shining star early in his career for Reims before being wasted by PSG, Ekitike has put himself fully back on the map with Eintracht and, like Pacho, could easily be worth double this.
PSG CM Desire Doue, 40M
How Tottenham and other big Premier League clubs in need of a versatile midfielder and wide man didn’t end up with Desire Doue is a mystery to me, and PSG, once again, did a great bit of business by snagging the best young player in the league in the past summer transfer window.
Doue is already a smash hit for the Parisians, and his per 90 statistics are mind-blowing. The 19-year-old is averaging 0.4 assists, 2.6 key passes, a team-high 2.5 successful dribbles, 2.1 fouls drawn, and 2.7 combined tackles and interceptions per 90.
Mark my words: Within two years, Doue will be one of the best and most unique weapons in world football. PSG got a player who will be worth triple this valuation by year five.
Atalanta ST Mateo Retegui, 35M
Mateo Retegui has as many goals as Robert Lewandowski, 22, this season in around 500 fewer minutes. Mohamed Salah is the only player with more goals than Retegui, and he’s played nearly 1,000 minutes more than the Italian marksman.
Atalanta are in the title conversation in part because Retegui is running away with the Capocannoniere. He is the best raw finisher in the world right now, and that has to be worth double the current price tag.
Put it this way: He’s younger than Viktor Gyokeres and is outdoing him in a much more difficult league for strikers. I have no idea how he could be viewed as being worth less money. The transfer rumor mill is a powerful enterprise, huh?
Lyon AM Rayan Cherki, 30M
Rayan Cherki being valued at 30 million euros is a joke. The Lyon playmaker is a rare talent on the ball with ridiculous quickness, an innate ability to bamboozle defenders, five-star skills, no weak foot, and elite-tier playmaking ability.
This season, Cherki has 15 goal contributions with 2.5 key passes and 2.9 combined dribbles completed and fouls drawn per game. He is a demon, and if he were playing in another league, he’d be a household name.
Chelsea CM Andrey Santos, 25M
Andrey Santos is currently balling out in Ligue 1, and there’s a case to be made that he’s the best non-PSG player in the league. Soon enough, he’ll be a starter at Chelsea, because once he’s back at Stamford Bridge, this Brazilian sensation won’t be sitting behind Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo for long
His all-around numbers are unbelievable. Santos is averaging 4.3 combined tackles and interceptions per game with 2.0 fouls drawn per match on the offensive end.
Better yet, Santos has scored 8 goals this season in Ligue 1 with a pass completion percentage not too far off from 90 (88.4). In his first season as a starter, Santos is putting himself on the map as one of the best box-to-box midfielders on this planet.
Joe Soriano covers West Ham for Green Street Hammers and writes about Real Madrid for The Real Champs. He has extensive experience covering world football since 2014. Joe is an editor for The Trivela Effect, where he covers the biggest clubs in European football. He has watched professional sports regularly since 2002 and can be found playing the same sports he covers with his friends.