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Gomes, Pogba, Higuaín... How much?!

Update:

André Gomes might end up costing Barcelona 60 to 70 million euros. Not bad business for Valencia, who bought the Portuguese for 15 million two seasons ago. Is it too much? For many people it is, but that judgment disregards a common thread: the price of footballers is continually growing. It is the only business that doesn’t suffer economic crises. Paul Pogba, Zidane’s dream, is priced at 120 million and Juventus, if they sell the Frenchman, plan to spend 94 million of that on Gonzalo Higuaín. Atlético offered 60 million plus three players for the Argentinean. Inflation is widespread.

Cristiano Ronaldo was the world’s most expensive player in his day, costing Real Madrid 96 million euros, which caused a scandal at the time. But then he was the Ballon d’Or holder and, like today, a formidable striker with a tremendous strike rate. Gareth Bale beat Ronaldo’s transfer record, a reflection of his incredible trajectory as a player but the Welshman was nowhere near Ronaldo’s level when he set laid that marker. Now Pogba may push that boundary even further. He is a fine player, a box to box midfielder, powerful with a great shot and good in the air, but still a long way off Ronaldo when he set that record. The price that Real paid for the Portuguese then is what Napoli are asking for Higuaín now, on the basis of his scoring record in Serie A.

The days when all that was expensive were goals are not in that distant a past. Then, there was an accepted barometer: two million per goal. If a striker scored 30 goals in a season, his price was 60 million. Now we are seeing exorbitant fees for players who don’t score hatfuls of goals and who aren’t insanely talented. It’s not that surprising. The big leagues – Spain, England, Germany, Italy - have received huge increases in television money recently. Recessions don’t affect football. It’s the area where we feel the pinch of spending money the least, so absurd or insensitive we are. That’s why the price of the good players (and the not so good) keeps going through the roof year after year.