The 450th issue of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post analyses the game intelligence data produced exclusively by our partners SkillCorner to reveal the one hundred midfielders with the best statistics in terms of ball retention under high pressure* in 28 leagues around the world. The best percentage in absolute terms was recorded for a player who is relatively unknown in Europe: Darlington Nagbe (93.4%) of Columbus Crew.

Four better-known midfielders rank behind Nagbe: Rodri Hernández of Manchester City (92.1%), Frenkie de Jong of Barcelona (91.8%), Toni Kroos of Real Madrid (also 91.8%), and Granit Xhaka of Bayer Leverkusen (91.6%). Many footballers from teams playing a possession-based game are among the top-ranked ones, showing that the individual ability to keep possession also depends on the solutions offered by teammates.

The three youngest players in the top 100 are Paris St-Germain’s Warren Zaïre-Emery, Barcelona’s Pablo Gavi and Hull City’s Tyler Morton (on loan from Liverpool), followed by Gerard Yepes (Sampdoria) and Pablo Maia (São Paulo). The data refers to the current season or the last completed one for summer leagues. Only footballers who have played at least 1,000 domestic league minutes have been incldued in the rankings.

* A player is considered under pressure when he is in possession of the ball and at least one opponent player nearby him is trying to either recover the ball or limit his options. For each situation, SkillCorner determines the intensity of pressure by considering the speed of the players applying it, their distance to the player in possession and the angle of their movement. More information is available here.

>>> Top 100

The 449th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 402 footballers who played in the big-5 before turning 18 during the 15-year period from January 2009 to December 2023. Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma is the footballer who has played the most minutes in the five major European leagues as a minor (4,879), followed by Alban Lafont, Eduardo Camavinga, Florian Wirtz, Pablo Gavi and Warren Zaïre-Emery (ongoing).

Seven players made their big-5 league debut before the age of 16, the youngest in absolute terms being Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri (15.5 years). With 119 minors fielded by their clubs, France’s Ligue 1 is the leader in this area, as the Monthly Report number 91 also reveals. The sharp rise in the use of underage players recorded since 2022 is strongly linked to the increase observed at French Ligue 1 level.

The study also shows that early experience in big-5 leagues is no guarantee of success. Only a minority (47.7%) of footballers used in the big-5 as minors and who subsequently played in other teams were able to do so for at least one club at a better sporting level than their initial one. This finding indicates that caution is required when it comes to assessing the true potential of players launched into professional football at an early stage.

>>> The 402 minors’ list

>>> Full analysis

See also the FIFA, ECA & CIES study on the transfer of minors and their career paths.

The 448th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 50 clubs in the world with the most positive and negative transfer balances for non-academy players signed and transferred between 2014 and 2023. The figures range from a positive balance* of €386 million for LOSC Lille (Pépé, Osimhen, Botman, etc.) to a negative balance of €631 million for Barcelona (Coutinho, Dembélé, Griezmann, etc.).

With +€317 million in capital gains, Ajax (de Jong, Antony, Lisandro Martínez, etc.) are in second place. RB Salzburg (Naby Keita, Mwepu, Haaland, etc.) complete the podium, just ahead of AS Monaco (Tchouaméni, Lemar, Bernardo Silva, etc.). The top 10 of clubs having generated the most profits from player trading during the last decade also includes two German (RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt), two Italian (Sassuolo and Atalanta) and two Portuguese teams (Benfica and Sporting CP).

At the other end of the scale, Barcelona (-€632 million) are ahead of Chelsea (-€482m with the three biggest losses for Jorginho, Pulišić and Rüdiger) and Arsenal (-€436m; Pépé, Aubameyang, Lacazette). Paris St-Germain has the fourth most negative balance (Neymar, Di María, Icardi, etc.), ahead of Manchester United (Matić, Fred, Mata, etc.). Manchester City (-€59m) and Bayern Munich (-€61m) have the best balances among the most competitive teams.

* Add-ons included irrespective of actual receipt or payment, not including agent commissions.

>>> Full data

The top 100 of youth academy players’ last decade transfer incomes by club is available here.

The 447th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 100 centre backs in the world with the best aerial play statistics* according to an index computed from the number of aerial duels won, in relation to the playing time and the frequency of aerial duels at employer team level, the percentage of aerial duels won and the sporting level of the matches played. Liverpool’s Dutchman Virgil van Dijk is ahead of Bayern Munich’s South Korean Min-jae Kim.

Now reconverted from defensive midfielder to centre back, Paris St-Germain’s Portuguese Danilo Pereira rounds off the podium, ahead of two other players active in the five major European leagues: England’s Jamaal Lascelles (Newcastle United) and France’s Dan-Axel Zagadou (Stuttgart). Argentina’s Bruno Duarte (Panatelikos) is the highest-ranked player from outside the big-5, while Joaquim Henrique (Santos) tops the table for outside Europe’s centre backs.

Cerro Porteño’s Paraguayan Lucas Quintana is the youngest player in the top 100 (19.0 years of age, 95th), ahead of Westerlo’s, on loan from Galatasaray, Turkish Emin Bayram (20.8 years, 21st) and Chornomorets’ Ukrainian Volodymyr Salyuk (21.6 years, 42nd). By contrast, the three oldest centre backs in the top 100 are Sevilla’s Sergio Ramos (37.8 years, seventh), Racing Santander’s Germán Sánchez (37.1 years, 63rd) and Deportivo Saprissa’s Kendall Waston (36.0 years, 64th).

* Wyscout statistics refer to domestic league matches in the current season or the last completed one for summer leagues. Only footballers who have played at least 900’ are included in the rankings.

>>> Go to the top 100

The 446th CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 100 clubs with the most profitable academies in the world in terms of revenues generated over the last ten years by the transfer of players who spent at least three seasons there between the ages of 15 and 21*. Portuguese side SL Benfica are clearly in the lead with €516 million, two thirds of which has been collected in the last five years.

AFC Ajax (€376 million) and Olympique Lyonnais (€370 million) complete the podium. As in the case of Benfica, the majority of Ajax’s revenues from the transfer of players from its academy has been generated over the last five years (66%). Despite transfer price inflation, this percentage is much lower for Olympique Lyonnais (50%).

Also in the top ten are three English clubs (Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City), a second Portuguese team (Sporting CP), as well as Real Madrid (fourth), AS Monaco (sixth, largely thanks to the revenues from Kylian Mbappé’s transfer to Paris St-Germain) and Italy’s Atalanta (tenth). Outside Europe, the clubs with the most profitable academies are Brazil’s Flamengo (thirteenth) and Argentina’s River Plate (fourteenth).

* Including add-ons regardless of their actual receipt.

>>> Find out the top 100

The 445th issue of the Weekly Post presents the 100 players in the world with the highest estimated transfer values according to the CIES Football Observatory statistical model*. English youngster Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid) tops the list with a transfer value of €267.5m, ahead of Norway’s Erling Haaland (Manchester City) and his two Brazilian teammates Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo Goes.

As for the other leagues in the Europe’s big-5, Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich) heads the rankings for the German Bundesliga, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (SSC Napoli) for Italy’s Serie A and, despite a contract expiring in June, Kylian Mbappé (Paris St-Germain) for France’s Ligue 1. Outside the big-5, António Silva (SL Benfica) is ahead of Gonçalo Inácio (Sporting CP) and Endrick Felipe (SE Palmeiras, on loan from Real Madrid).

Compared to the estimates published last June, the number of players with a transfer value in excess of €100 million has almost doubled (from 20 to 39), reflecting the sharp inflation in player prices occurred during the summer 2023 transfer window. The value of the hundredth player with the highest estimated value is now €71.3 million, compared with €53.4 million in June 2023.

* Based on more than 6’000 paying fee transactions, the CIES Football Observatory statistical model allows us to accurately predict the transfer fees that clubs are likely to pay, given the prices invested in the past for players with similar characteristics. The estimates do not take into account eventual buy-out clauses. They refer to 100% of the economic rights and include both fixed and conditional sums (add-ons).

More information on demand.

>>> Top 100 list