Jan. 07--Cristiano Ronaldo may beat out Lionel Messi for the 2014 Ballon d'Or that will be awarded to the world's best footballer on Monday, and he may be football's top earner ($73 million in total income, according to Forbes), but Messi outpaces his rival in transfer value -- by far.
The Barcelona star has a transfer value of 220 million euros, about $262 million, according to Business Insider. That's 87 million more euros than Ronaldo's worth. The figures are based on a study by the CIES Football Observatory and factors in performance, age, contracts and other variables.
Football clubs often pay hefty transfer fees to acquire top players or rising stars from other teams.
Here are the top 10 players based on transfer value (in euros):
1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) -- 220 million
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) -- 133 million
3. Eden Hazard (Chelsea) -- 99 million
4. Diego Costa (Chelsea) -- 84 million
5. Paul Pogba (Juventus) -- 72 million
7. Raheem Sterling (Liverpool) -- 63 million
8. Francesc F...bregas (Chelsea) -- 62 million
9. Alexis Sᮣhez (Arsenal) -- 61 million
10. Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) -- 60 million
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