Messi beats Ronaldo to top in transfer fee in the world

Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) turned out to be to be the most expensive soccer player in the world, beating over his archrival Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid).

The soccer institute under the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) estimated Wednesday Messi’s transfer fee at 220 million euros (261.5 million U.S. dollars), the highest amount among the active players. The transfer fee of Ronaldo was estimated at 133 million euros (158 million dollars), and Eden Michael Hazard (Chelsea), who is valued at an estimated 99 million euros (117 million dollars), ranked third.

CIES estimated transfer fees by linking 1,500 cases of players’ transfers with the number of matches, scores and dribbles, age, and position of respective players from 2009.

Diego Costa (ranked 4th at 84 million euros or 99.8 million dollars), who is playing with Hazard at Chelsea, and Cesc Fàbregas Soler (ranked 8th at 62 million euros or 73.7 million dollars) also made the top 10 list. Six players with the English Premier League, including Sergio Aguero (ranked 6th at 65 million euros or 77.2 million dollars) of Manchester City, were among the top 10.

Among the Korean players, Son Heung-min (Bayer Leverkusen) tied to rank 97th with 21 million euros (24.9 million dollars), becoming the only player from Korea to make the top 100 list. Son’s transfer fee was found to be on par with those of Pedro Rodriguez (FC Barcelona), Arda Turan (Atletico Madrid), and Stevan Jovetic (Manchester City).