Economists work overtime to figure out how much Footballers are worth

Pity the poor economists amongst us. They spend their days looking at graphs, crunching numbers and thinking about things that leave most of us in a zombie state with drool hanging out of our mouths. Is it any wonder that when they have the rare opportunity to use their knowledge for something fun like football they are quick to jump on it?

A group from the Faculty of Economics and Commerce at the University of Navarra in Spain has put its collective brains together to come up with a method for determining just how much a football player is worth to a specific team. In a discovery that is startling to absolutely no one, they have concluded that the price tag for a player like Kaka is linked to the amount of media coverage the player receives.

For every one per cent rise in media coverage, Kaká’s value rises by half a per cent, while other factors, such as age nationality and the buying club are all weighed in.

Along with ability, the price of a footballer will rise because the club that wants to purchase is willing to pay more if they recognise that their target will benefit them commerically.

Clubs paying more because a player will benefit them commercially? I can’t think of a single example of this.

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Category: World Football