According to Business Insider Lionel Messi of Barcelona in Spain's La Liga tops the list with a staggering transfer value of $262 million (€220 million), and nobody else is even close.
And that would just be the estimated cost of acquiring the rights to the Argentine footballer. If a team were able to persuade Barcelona to sell Messi, the new club would then have to negotiate a new contract with the player.
Messi reportedly makes slightly more than $50 million per year with his contract at Barça.
There are a lot of valuable athletes in North America, and while this side of the Atlantic uses a different means of transferring players between teams, it is hard to imagine any team would pay $262 million for a player's rights and then give pay that player a $50 million annual salary.
Messi's transfer value is calculated by examining transfer fees since 2009 and variables such as recent performance, age, position, current contract, and team performance.
