What would our peak CL-winning 2007/'08 squad cost in current market terms?

[Fortitude]

At that time, we had one of, if not the best squad on the planet.

If you adjust this 1st xi:

-------C.Ronaldo-------------Tevez------------Rooney
---------(23)------------------(24)---------------(22)
-------------------------------------------Hargreaves
-----------------------------------------------(27)
-----------------------Scholes---Carrick
-------------------------(33)------(26)
Evra-------------------------------------------------Brown
-(27)-------------------------------------------------(28)
----------------------Vidic------Ferdinand
----------------------(26)--------(29)
-------------------------Van Der Sar
-----------------------------(37)

Kuszczak - 26
O'Shea - 27
Silvestre - 30
Anderson - 20
Fletcher - 24
Nani - 20
Giggs - 34

First thing to note is that it's such a balanced squad in terms of age (one wonders what the majority could have gone on to do if they had all stayed on ) Second thing is that the star attack is just so young. Surely, you're looking at £200m for each of them in this day and age (let's assume Tevez is our player and not a loan because you'd never get anyone like him bouncing around clubs in such a manner again)? How much do you price two of the best defenders in the world at? What would a 26-year-old Carrick cost in today's market? And so on and so forth.

The reason for this thread is the thought of the overhaul needed for us to be a true, world class team again and how much that would cost in equivalence to what the squad of the last era where we were the real deal would in modern terms.

Is it fair to say this squad above is over £1b? Or does the caveat of how those players came to be (Vidic, Evra, VDS and Tevez on the cheap ; Brown, Scholes, O'Shea, Fletcher and Giggs being homegrown) factor into how you would price them up? Are we looking at an outlay of over £1b (over a few windows) to get to a level of squad as seen above?

 

[Tommy]

That front line is probably worth the best part of half a billion quid with the way the market is at the moment, if not more. £200m for Ronaldo, £150m for Rooney... At least, surely.

 

[Peyroteo]

Neymar went for £223m at 25, Rooney would probably be worth that. A 23yo Ronaldo would have gone for £500m today.

You're looking at pretty much a billion just for the front 3 given how good and how young they were.

 

[Fortitude]

Neymar went for £223m at 25, Rooney would probably be worth that. A 23yo Ronaldo would have gone for £500m today.

You're looking at pretty much a billion just for the front 3 given how good and how young they were.

This is through the lens of hindsight - no club on earth is paying £500m for that Ronaldo despite how incredible he was in that season and the one prior to it. Just too much of a blind gamble. Would certainly be a world record amount, though. First player to break the £300m barrier, I think.

 

[JMack1234]

You're talking nearly a billion pounds here.

The frontline by itself is over half billion. Neymar went for £223 m and Coutinho £142 m and you'd assume Rooney and Ronaldo were worth at least that if not more.

Vidic, Ferdinand, Carrick and Tevez would all easily be 80+ million these days. Evra wouldn't be far of. Brown would be around £30 million and Van der Sar and Scholes wouldn't fetch much because of their age.

 

[morbidsaint]

Around 1 billion.

Anyway.. a 22 year old Wayne Rooney just got me drooling. Many don't remember just how good he was.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

We're using these recent examples 2016-18 as the benchmarks right:

Striker (Ronaldo, Lukaku, Morata, Costa, Aubameyang) -- £100~78~63m
Attackers (Neymar, Mbappe, Dembele, Coutinho) -- £222~105m
Midifielder (Pogba, Fred, Jorginho) -- £105~58m
Defender (VVD, Laporte) -- £84~65m
Fullbacks (Walker) -- £52m
Keeper (Kepa, Becker) -- £80~73m

---

Ronaldo -- £300m + add-ons
Rooney -- £180m
Tevez -- £90m

Spoiler

For some reasons, star attackers are way more expensive today than strikers who lacked star quality except the ageing Ronaldo who could mustered just £100m to Juventus. There isn't really that many star strikers sample.

Ronaldo and Rooney are that young then and so impressive, performing in big games, making people talk and climbing up the ranks of many records. They kept on improving so the value there is big. Also both of them are more of an attacker than a striker. Ronaldo more expensive, clear reasons why. He's the EPL's best player and Ballon d'or. Rooney also played second fiddle sort of to Ronaldo.

Why Tevez low?
He's more of a striker, Ronaldo and Rooney stole the show, not him, his form at that time wasn't really that spectacular like the season after he went to City. At the right age near his prime too so there's the boost to his price.

Scholes -- £10m
Carrick -- £60m
Hargreaves -- £20m
Giggs -- £11m
Fletcher -- £40m

Anderson -- £60m
Nani -- £110m + add-ons

Spoiler

Age is a big factor, highly doubt many clubs are interested in spending big sum to Giggs nor Scholes, who have higher chances of retiring soon, thus why their prices is way low. Hargreaves is famous for his injury record, so that's a shot to his price, and at 28 y.o. too, risky buy. Fletcher wasn't that hot at that time, next season 2008/9 is when he was awesome. Carrick at Jorginho price.

Anderson and Nani are young and have big potentials at that time, they also did showed their talents throughout the season. Nani as an exciting new attacker/winger, with Anderson seen more as a midfielder. I think Nani is so impressive that time, more ripple famed than Dembele.

Evra -- £60m
Vidic -- £100m
Ferdinand -- £80m
VDS -- <£10m

Brown -- £20m
O'Shea -- £10m

Spoiler

Seriously, age is a big factor in price. Vidic is at a more prime age than Rio. Doubt many would willing to spend big money for VDS. Brown was so impressive that season but near 30 y.o. and his injury record, Evra-Vidic-Rio-VDS are the ones that stole the show and widely praised, not so much Wes, thus a low price. Evra at the common FB price today. OShea low price as he's known to be a bit part squad player with many football fans ridiculed his performances, no way that high.

Silvestre -- £3m
Kuszczak -- <£1m

---

Round-up by high estimates...

Total (Starting eleven) -- £930m
Total (All eighteen) -- £1165m = £1.2b

Spoiler

Bad with numbers, so likely miscalculate here, and didn't recheck/recalculate so there ya go.

 

[el3mel]

Ronaldo 250m
Rooney 150m
Tevez 80m
Giggs 40m
Carrick 50m
Scholes 60m
Evra 50m
Rio 70m
Vidic 60m
Brown 30m
VDS 50m
Nani 30m
Park 30m
Hargreaves 30m
Fletcher 30
Anderson 20m
O'shea 15m

 

[Oneunited26]

Let’s look at the 11

VDS - 17 million
Brown - 15 million
Ferdinand - 130 million
Vidic 120 million
Evra - 87 million
Carrick - 74 million
Scholes - 30 million
Hargreaves - 17 million
Ronaldo 600 million
Rooney 190 million
Tevez - 100 million

For me Ronaldo today is worth past the 400 million threshold, any guy that marketable and can score that many goals on the player he is, is worth a kings ransom

 

[RedRonaldo]

Ronaldo - 300m
Rooney - 200m
Tevez - 100m
Carrick - 70m
Hargreaves - 40m
Evra - 80m
Vidic - 100m
Rio - 100m
Anderson - 60m
Nani - 60m

Bear in mind Neymar cost 220m, Mbappe cost 180m, Coutinho cost 100m, Lukaku cost 80m, Fred cost 50m in this crazy market.

 

[Peyroteo]

Neymar at 25 went for £223 million, Ronaldo at 23 after being the star player for a United team that won the double would have to be a lot more. 200 million is about what a 22 year old Rooney would cost imo. The likes of Hazard, Kane or De Bruyne would cost over 200 million today and they're older and probably not as good.

I think we need a few top players to move clubs for everyone to realize just how insane the transfer market has gotten.

 

[bosnian_red]

Van der sar - he was 37/38 so tough to say.
Brown - 20m
Ferdinand - 60m
Vidic - 120m
Evra - 90m
Carrick - 50m
Scholes - 20m
Hargreaves - 30m
Ronaldo - 300m
Rooney - 200m
Tevez - 100-150m

Nani - 65m
Anderson - 60m
Fletcher - 40m

Over 1 billion for those starters and the youngish squad players. Hard to value the ones over 30, front line was all 100m+ players.

 

[Mcking]

Neymar went for £223m at 25, Rooney would probably be worth that. A 23yo Ronaldo would have gone for £500m today.

You're looking at pretty much a billion just for the front 3 given how good and how young they were.

You're talking nearly a billion pounds here.

The frontline by itself is over half billion. Neymar went for £223 m and Coutinho £142 m and you'd assume Rooney and Ronaldo were worth at least that if not more.

Vidic, Ferdinand, Carrick and Tevez would all easily be 80+ million these days. Evra wouldn't be far of. Brown would be around £30 million and Van der Sar and Scholes wouldn't fetch much because of their age.

Neymar at 25 went for £223 million, Ronaldo at 23 after being the star player for a United team that won the double would have to be a lot more. 200 million is about what a 22 year old Rooney would cost imo. The likes of Hazard, Kane or De Bruyne would cost over 200 million today and they're older and probably not as good.

I think we need a few top players to move clubs for everyone to realize just how insane the transfer market has gotten.

Where did the £223m for Neymar come from? I was pretty sure PSG signed him for around £199m.

 

[norm87cro]

A lot. But its worth mentioning that we never really paid a transfer fee for Tevez

 

[IronCroos37]

Ronaldo 250
Rooney 150
Tevez 80
Hargo 30 cuz injuries
Scholes 20
carrick 60
Evra 60
Brown 30
Ferdinand 70
Vidic 80

Oshea 20
Nani 40
Fletcher 30
Silvester 10
Anderson 40

 

[Treble]

Easily over 1 bn.

 

[Fortitude]

A 20-year-old as talented as Nani doesn't go for less than £75m in today's market. Players like Zaha, Callum Wilson, Richarlison even David Brooks are touted as £70m or more, none of whom are anywhere near Nani, How or why are people making such low evaluations on him (and a few others)?

 

[roonster09]

Is it fair to say this squad above is over £1b?

Is this with benefit of hindsight or just if this year is 2007 and we have no idea how Ronaldo turns into goal scoring machine and Carrick will become one of the best CMs in the league, Evra dominating that side for years?

 

[Treble]

Some unrealistic evaluations of Ronaldo though. 400m?? He had 2 great seasons at the time (after the CL final in 2008) and not many were expecting him to reach GOAT levels - to be up there with Cruyff and even Pele. He was already a fantastic player obviously but 200-250 m is a far more realistic evaluation, imo.

 

[Fortitude]

Is this with benefit of hindsight or just if this year is 2007 and we have no idea how Ronaldo turns into goal scoring machine and Carrick will become one of the best CMs in the league, Evra dominating that side for years?

This is through the lens of hindsight - no club on earth is paying £500m for that Ronaldo despite how incredible he was in that season and the one prior to it. Just too much of a blind gamble. Would certainly be a world record amount, though. First player to break the £300m barrier, I think.

With time stood still after the CL win roonster, no hindsight just what you'd have to fork out for those players without knowing how the future turns out for any of them.

---

Also think Tevez is getting undervalued - he was a star of the age, played good football that season and had lots of repute. Someone with his exact profile to that date would cost a fortune in today's market.

 

[roonster09]

With time stood still after the CL win roonster, no hindsight just what you'd have to fork out for those players without knowing how the future turns out for any of them.

---

Also think Tevez is getting undervalued - he was a star of the age, played good football that season and had lots of repute. Someone with his exact profile to that date would cost a fortune in today's market.

Oh man, think it's easily worth more than billion. (I thought it was at start of 2007-08 season, but if it's end of the season then yeah more than billion).

Again it all depends on demand and supply but if players like Coutinho, Dembele are worth 150 million, wonder how much would Rooney, Tevez, Ronaldo from 2008 would cost. 3 of them alone would fetch us more than 600 million, then you have 2 of the best CBs in the world, one of the hottest youngster in Anderson and then Nani.

Yeah, it was easily worth more than 1 billion.

 

[Fortitude]

Oh man, think it's easily worth more than billion. (I thought it was at start of 2007-08 season, but if it's end of the season then yeah more than billion).

Again it all depends on demand and supply but if players like Coutinho, Dembele are worth 150 million, wonder how much would Rooney, Tevez, Ronaldo from 2008 would cost. 3 of them alone would fetch us more than 600 million, then you have 2 of the best CBs in the world, one of the hottest youngster in Anderson and then Nani.

Yeah, it was easily worth more than 1 billion.

Anderson indeed, extremely highly touted youngsters like him are north of £80m now. His value obviously plummeted in subsequent seasons, but at that time his worth would have been right up there and only top clubs would be able to move for him.

Unless we're really lucky with some cheap signings turning into world-beaters, to get to that level again will cost an absolute fortune.

 

[roonster09]

Anderson indeed, extremely highly touted youngsters like him are north of £80m now. His value obviously plummeted in subsequent seasons, but at that time his worth would have been right up there and only top clubs would be able to move for him.

Unless we're really lucky with some cheap signings turning into world-beaters, to get to that level again will cost an absolute fortune.

Without doubt. Add Nani too.

Btw, don't think any club assemble team by signing all top players, think it's near impossible. All big teams are assembled by signing few top players and then players with high potential and let them grow together with the team.

But what a team though, just unbelievable we had such a great team and then was decimated in next 2-3 years with Ronaldo, Tevez leaving. Players like Anderson not living up to hype, Rio becoming injury prone player.

 

[Andersonson]

Anderson indeed, extremely highly touted youngsters like him are north of £80m now. His value obviously plummeted in subsequent seasons, but at that time his worth would have been right up there and only top clubs would be able to move for him.

Unless we're really lucky with some cheap signings turning into world-beaters, to get to that level again will cost an absolute fortune.

No way Ando wouldve gone for 80m. Remember, there are scouts out there. 35m at most for him. And thats purely on age and hype

 

[Eric's Seagull]

Around 1 billion.

Anyway.. a 22 year old Wayne Rooney just got me drooling. Many don't remember just how good he was.

If they don't they should start watching some highlights

 

[Camilo]

The PSG money has definitely skewed things - the Neymar, and subsequent Coutinho purchase don't reflect the actual amount of money in the game..

And sure, if PSG came in for 2008 Ronaldo you'd expect the price to be bumped, but not to the extent of the Neymar money. I think if we had a 23 year old Ronaldo today, PSG would have to pay £150 million, and Real probably closer to 110 (assuming he still wanted to go). Rooney, same kind of deal.

Tevez... Can't see the club turning down 70 million.

Scholes wouldn't go anywhere at 33, but if he decided to leave it would be a Schweinsteiger type number, 5 million or so.

Carrick and Hargreves are tricky.. Very good but English. For us to buy Carrick from Spurs today would be 60, 70 million.. For Someone else to take him from us, probably a similar number. Hargreves already had his issues, so knock a bit off I guess..

Evra, Vidic and Ferdinand are where the big money could've been. I think you'd have been looking at 80+ million each. Top defenders at their peaks..

So a lot of money, but not a billion. Maybe 700 all in? And the bench probably adding another 100 to that...

 

[Buster15]

The only thing I would say is that RM got Cristiano Ronaldo extremely cheap at 80m even at that time

 

[sunama]

Around 1 billion.

Anyway.. a 22 year old Wayne Rooney just got me drooling. Many don't remember just how good he was.

I assure, most of us do.
Even at 18, Rooney was brilliant. Hell, even at 16 he was great.
Unfortunately, he got old very quickly and was finished by his late 20s.

 

[sunama]

The only thing I would say is that RM got Cristiano Ronaldo extremely cheap at 80m even at that time

Indeed.
Imagine buying a soon to be, multiple Ball on dor winner (and arguably the greatest player of all time) for £80M. I think it was quite cheap, even though it was a world record, at the time.

 

[Skills]

No way Ando wouldve gone for 80m. Remember, there are scouts out there. 35m at most for him. And thats purely on age and hype

35m is pretty close to what we paid back then for Anderson. He would easily cost more now.

 

[iHicksy]

-------C.Ronaldo-------------Tevez------------Rooney
---------(23)------------------(24)---------------(22)
-------------------------------------------Hargreaves
-----------------------------------------------(27)
-----------------------Scholes---Carrick
-------------------------(33)------(26)
Evra-------------------------------------------------Brown
-(27)-------------------------------------------------(28)
----------------------Vidic------Ferdinand
----------------------(26)--------(29)
-------------------------Van Der Sar
-----------------------------(37)

In today's Market.

Ronaldo (500 million)
Rooney (300 million)
Tevez (160 million)
Hargreaves (40 million)
Scholes (65 million - Taking age into account)
Carrick (90 million)
Evra (65 million)
Brown (40 million)
Vidic ( 115 million)
Rio ( 120 Million )
Van Der Sar ( 40 million due to age and position )

 

[cyberman]

I assure, most of us do.
Even at 18, Rooney was brilliant. Hell, even at 16 he was great.
Unfortunately, he got old very quickly and was finished by his late 20s.

That's still over a decade of brilliance.
Wayne seems to get criticised for not being an elite player for 15 odd years which seems ridiculous to me.
He's not the first to break through stupidly young and fade as 30 approaches.

 

[Ishdalar]

Neymar at 25 went for £223 million, Ronaldo at 23 after being the star player for a United team that won the double would have to be a lot more. 200 million is about what a 22 year old Rooney would cost imo. The likes of Hazard, Kane or De Bruyne would cost over 200 million today and they're older and probably not as good.

I think we need a few top players to move clubs for everyone to realize just how insane the transfer market has gotten.

The problem putting a price tag on young Ronaldo is that you never can sell that kind of a player for what he's really worth, he wants to leave and you just have to settle for what the team he wants to leave for can afford, in that regard I don't think any club right now could offer north of 250M for any player, maybe 300M could be achievable, but I don't count on anyone going beyond there.

So even if Ronaldo was literally twice the player Rooney was, he couldn't leave for double the fee, no one could afford that.

Regarding the transfer market, I think (and hope) that PSG just pulled a Florentino, when he signed Figo and then Zidane breaking the bank and everyone thought that was the way forward, it took 8 years to reach back those fees and almost 16 years until those numbers became usual. Coutinho or Dembele are just the waves left from the stupid money the Neymar transfer put in football and I think someone smart like Florentino himself anticipated the last two summers that those might've been the worse windows to buy top talent in maybe the next 5 years. Things will settle down as that money fades out, it was a political move, not a sporting one.

 

[Mordownm35]

An excellent team that was so well assembled and perfectly complimented each other. Unfortunately it came apart too soon imo with Ronaldo leaving a season later as he was reaching his prime and Tevez leaving as well. Plus with Scholes on the decline and Hargreaves injury problems returning it was a team i felt didn't get its chance at the top for as long as it probably should have. Also feel it probably doesn't get the recognition this team deserves because of the rise of Pep's Barca a season later and for the subsequent seasons following, don't think people remember quiet how good this team was.

I think people are close with some of their valuations but with people like Scholes pretty much impossible to say because he was never realistically going to leave United especially at that age and people would not bid for him so hard to judge market value. Ronaldo definitely tops £200 million and Nani is comfortably in the £60 million bracket for his potential at the time.

 

[Peyroteo]

The problem putting a price tag on young Ronaldo is that you never can sell that kind of a player for what he's really worth, he wants to leave and you just have to settle for what the team he wants to leave for can afford, in that regard I don't think any club right now could offer north of 250M for any player, maybe 300M could be achievable, but I don't count on anyone going beyond there.

So even if Ronaldo was literally twice the player Rooney was, he couldn't leave for double the fee, no one could afford that.

Regarding the transfer market, I think (and hope) that PSG just pulled a Florentino, when he signed Figo and then Zidane breaking the bank and everyone thought that was the way forward, it took 8 years to reach back those fees and almost 16 years until those numbers became usual. Coutinho or Dembele are just the waves left from the stupid money the Neymar transfer put in football and I think someone smart like Florentino himself anticipated the last two summers that those might've been the worse windows to buy top talent in maybe the next 5 years. Things will settle down as that money fades out, it was a political move, not a sporting one.

On second thought, I agree with the first two paragraphs. Record breaking transfer records do usually go that way.

Slightly disagree with the rest though. I think even to sign the likes of Hazard or Eriksen on the last year of their contract Perez is going to have to pay about 150 million for each.

I agree that we might not see the Neymar transfer be matched for a while but I also think it will be because the big players won't be moving clubs rather than noone being willing to pay a fortune for them. I think Madrid would be willing to spend 250 million on someone like Harry Kane for example, he just won't force a move and Spurs won't sell. For someone like Mbappe it would be even more.

 

[Zlaatan]

I think there's a lot of rose tinted glasses around here. I don't see how Rooney and especially Tevez would go for similar money to what PSG paid for Neymar, as at the time of Neymar's transfer he was considered to be the one who would dominate world football for the next decade + he was putting up big numbers for both club and country. Tevez was considered a great player and Rooney was obviously a mega talent, but were anyone really claiming that either of them was the sure thing to go on and become the best player in the world like the case was with Neymar? Had any of them put up the numbers on the pitch like Neymar? Were any of them as marketable? I'd go no on all those questions.

Ronaldo could have warranted a bigger fee than Neymar but never in a million years would he go for anything close to £100-£300mil more than the already insane £200mil fee that Barca got (and before I get jumped on, I would say the same thing about 2008 Messi). A little bit more maybe, but more than twice as much is just plain ridiculous.

 

[Schneckerl]

Ronaldo more than Neymar after his 07/08 for sure. Rooney probably 150 - 200 M.
I doubt 33/34 year old Giggs and Scholes get those huge fees, but them leaving the club wouldnt happen anyways.

 

[Andrew~]

It's amazing to think about consistent Ronaldo and Rooney were at such young ages. Only 23/24 and the team was built around getting the best out of them, amazing.