Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling is the world’s sixth most valuable player and fourth most likely to be sold this transfer window says new study
Liverpool's Raheem Sterling has been named as the sixth most valuable player in the world in a new study that also ranks him the fourth most-likely top European player to be transferred this summer.
The young winger is ranked the most valuable under 21-year-old player in world football and worth more than Luis Suarez, Diego Costa and Alexis Sanchez with a valuation between €73.7m (£54.4m) and €81m according to the CIES Football Observatory.
Such a hefty valuation will add further ammunition his agent's hopes of securing a move away from Anfield this summer.
Read more: Could Liverpool legally let Raheem Sterling "rot in the reserves"?
The 20-year-old was relentlessly jeered throughout England's friendly with the Republic of Ireland in Dublin on Saturday, having angered fans by his refusal to sign a new £100,000-a-week contract with Liverpool.
Sterling's current £35,000-a-week deal still has two years to run, but hopes of negotiating an extension stalled after agent Aidy Ward said his client wouldn't sign for ad much as £900,000-a-week.
The CIES Football Observatory, an academic group based in Switzerland, calculates a player's transfer value based on an econometric algorithm that looks at his performance, age, position, contract duration and team performance.
A similar model is used by the academics to calculate the probability of a transfer. Using research into transfer activity over the last six seasons, Sterling is ranked as the fourth most likely player in Europe's top five league's to be transferred this summer.
Liverpool playmaker Philippe Coutinho is named as one of the 20 most valuable players in the world with a valuation between €50.4m and €55.5m. In contrast to Sterling, he is ranked as only the 53rd most likely player to be transferred.
Despite finishing sixth in the Premier League last year, Liverpool's squad is named the fifth most valuable in the Europe with an aggregated value €381.5m – more than Manchester United, Manchester City, PSG and Bayern Munich.