Ghanaian star Kamaldeen misses out on U-23 most expensive list; Frimpong, Haaland, Vinicius in

Ghanaian star Kamaldeen misses out on U-23 most expensive list; Frimpong, Haaland, Vinicius in

Emmanuel Kwame Donkor
updated at April 12, 2023 at 7:50 PM
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  • Ghana Black Stars teenagers Kamaldeen Sulemana and Afena-Gyan, missed out on the list of most expensive players for the next transfer window
  • The list compiled on under 23 players from Europe's top five leagues, saw big names like Erling Haaland, Vinicius Jr, Jeremy Frimpong and Mbappe among others
  • The International Centre for Sports Studies, known mostly by the initials (CIES) from the French Centre International d'Etude du Sport, carries out research in the sport

CIES' football observatory body has revealed a list of the most expensive under-23 players from Europe's top five leagues and Ghana's Kamaldeen is not in there.

The 19-year-old forward, who was named the best player in the French league for the month of October, with a rising market value of hundred and four million Ghana cedis (15 million euros), did not make the cut.

The CIES list, issue number 359 of it's weekly post presented the ten U23 big-5 league players per position with the greatest estimated transfer value as per the exclusive econometric model of its football observatory body.

Ghanaian stars Kamaldeen, Afena-Gyan miss U-23 most expensive list; Frimpong, Haaland, Vinicius in
CIES U-23 Most Expensive Players of Top-five European Leagues. Source: Twitter
Source: Twitter

While there are no Ghana Black Stars players on the list, there was a player with Ghanaian citizenship eligibility by a parent in the list of top ten most valuable full backs in the person of Netherland born Jeremie Agyekum Frimpong.

The 20-year-old right back has played for the Dutch national team's men junior side and is currently hoping his performances for Bayer Leverkusen in the German Bundesliga will be enough to earn him his senior debut soon.

The overall top-ten list of most expensive u-23 players from CEIS

Erling Haaland of Borussia Dortmund and Norway, Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid and Brazil, and Phil Phoden of Machester city and England topped the forwards category with an estimated value of above 150 million euros (one billion Ghana cedis).

Bayern Leverkusen and German player, Florian Wirtz and Spain and FC Barcelona's Pedri Gonzalez top the most expensive U-23 attacking midfielders group with an estimated figure of above 140m euros.

England's Jude Bellingham and Bayern Munich's Alphonso Davies (120m euros plus) from the defensive midfielders and full backs group each, completed the top 10.

Why the Black Stars Players missed the list

Stade Rennais winger has been in scintillating form for his club this season with his great performances already earning him accolades.

Kamaldeen Sulemana's absence from the list could be attributed to the fact that his competition for the forwards category were the likes of Vinicius Jr, Erling Haaland, and Mbappe, whose current market values are way above Kamaldeen's.

If Kamaldeen were a goalkeeper, his 15 million market value would have made the list, along with Stade Rennais team-mate and goalkeeper, Doğan Alemdar, who was third on the list of expensive under 23 goalkeepers from Europe's top five league.

While Kamaldeen, who plays in the French league one, a top five league according to CIES, represented Ghana's best chances of having someone on the list, Kudus and Partey are the others.

However the pair were ineligible to be even considered for the research because they were not playing in an European top five league, or were older than 23 years respectively.

Another of Ghana's best bet of making the list from the seven under 23 players from the last Ghana Black Stars squad called by Coach Milovan Rajevac, is AS Roma wonderkid, Felix Afena-Gyan.

The 18-year-old however, was just promoted from AS Roma's junior side months ago and has not played nearly enough games to show what he is capable of, although his brace in his third senior game was telling enough.

One thing we can safely project is that, even though the Ghana Black Stars players are missing on the list now, that will not be the case in few years to come with all the talented teenagers making their way up.

Most expensive Black Stars Players, 2021

YEN.com.gh has taken a look at the seven most expensive Ghana Black Stars players of the year 2021 and household names like Thomas Partey, Kamaldeen Sulemana and Kudus Mohammed, feature heavily in the list.

Surprisingly, however, the captain of the Black Stars, Andre Dede Ayew, has lost his place in the list to French-born Ghanaian defender, Alexander Djiku.

Crystal Palace's Jordan Ayew, and Leicester's Daniel Amartey, complete the list.

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Emmanuel Kwame Donkor photo
Emmanuel Kwame Donkor
Ghana Sports Editor
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