While Liverpool's policy of buying at a lower price and seeing a player's value grow has paid dividends in recent seasons, only two of the Reds' squad make it into the top 10 when it comes to market value of the remaining teams in this year's Champions League.
Liverpool, who take on Villarreal in the first leg of their semi-final at Anfield this evening, are the overwhelming favourites to progress. The financial gap between the Spanish side and the three other teams in this year's competition is vast, with the Reds' squad value, according to Transfermarkt, placed at around £810.5m compared to Villarreal's £344.25m.
Two of the heavyweights have already had their first showdown with Manchester City defeating Real Madrid 4-3 at the Etihad Stadium in a pulsating encounter on Tuesday night. It is City whose squad value is placed the highest at around £863m, with Real's pegged at around £680m.
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Analysts at Football Benchmark have put together a list of the most valuable players for each of the remaining four teams in this year's Champions League, with the top 10 featuring just two players from the Reds despite their high squad value.
According to Football Benchmark's data, based upon their Player Valuation Tool using data from February that takes into account a number of variables when assessing value, only Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah have values high enough to see them make the top 10 compared to Manchester City having six players feature, with Real Madrid taking up two spots also. Alexander-Arnold is valued by Football Benchmark at around £93.2m (€110.8m), while Salah, whose value would be higher were he not out of contract next summer, holding a market value of £90.7m (€107.8m). The Liverpool duo are second and third on the list, respectively.
Topping the list is Manchester City and England star Phil Foden (£104.7m), while Ruben Dias is fourth (£87.9m), Kevin De Bruyne sixth (£79.9m), Rodri seventh (£71.2m), Bernardo Silva eighth (£68.5m) and former Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling in ninth (£67.9m). The two Real Madrid players to make the list are Vincius Jnr in fifth (£84.4m) and goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois in 10th (£63.2m), although plenty of Reds would surely argue that Alisson Becker would be more befitting of a place in the top 10 than the Real stopper.
Sadio Mane (13th), Alisson (14th), Diogo Jota (16th) and Andrew Robertson (19th) are the other Reds to appear in the top 20. Luis Diaz in 25th, Virgil van Dijk in 27th and Fabinho in 30th are the other Reds players in the top 30, which consists of 12 Manchester City players, nine Liverpool players, seven Real Madrid players and two from Villarreal.
For Villarreal the size of their task in taking on the big boys on limited resource is shown with the first appearance of a player on the list from 'The Yellow Submarine' coming at 22nd, with defender Pau Torres valued at £52.2m. Gerardo Moreno is the only other Villarreal inside the top 30, his value of £44.3m placing him 29th.
