(Photo: CGTN)

The CIES Football Observatory this week released its latest player value rankings for the five major soccer leagues in Europe (Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1). Kylian Mbappé from the Paris Saint-Germain ranked No.1 with 252 million euros (about 283 million US dollars).

Though he's in PSG and has not made much of a breakthrough at the UEFA Champions League, 20-year-old Mbappé is till the most valuable player in the soccer world considering his ability, form and, of course, age. The French forward saw his market price rise by 34 million euros (about 38 million US dollars) compared with January.

Mohamed Salah from Liverpool ranked No.2 with 219 million euros (about 246 million US dollars) and had the biggest growth of 35 million during the same period. Winning the 2018-19 Champions League title with the Reds contributed a lot to the growth of Salah's market value and pushed him from No.5 in January to No.2.

Raheem Sterling from Manchester City followed Mbappé and Salah to rank No.3 on the list with 207 million euros (about 233 million US dollars). The 24-year-old English winger helped Man City win their second straight Premier League championship this season.

Compared with the three juniors, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo saw their glories diminish even more. Messi though still ranked No.4 on the list but his 167 million euros (about 188 million US dollars) already fell far behind those of the new generation. Ronaldo was doing worse as the CIES estimated his market price to be only 118 million euros (about 133 US dollars), which ranked only No.20 on the list.

Aging – Messi is 31 years old and Ronaldo 34 years old – plus staying in less competitive clubs – Messi's Barcelona were humiliated by Liverpool at the Champions League, Ronaldo's Juventus were knocked out by young Ajax at the same event – led to the shrinking of the two five-time Ballon d'Or winners' market values.

However, Messi and Ronaldo were not the most unfortunate players this time. Harry Kane from Tottenham Hotspur, Paulo Dybala from Juventus and Neymar from PSG saw their market price fall by the most.

Kane's value dropped from 200 million euros (about 225 million US dollars) to 155 million, a decrease of 45 million. Though Hotspur made the Champions League final this season, Kane missed some games because of injury. When he came back, he was not that WMD in offense anymore.

Dybala had been No.6 on the last list with 171 million euros (about 192 million US dollars) but Ronaldo arrived at the Allianz Stadium. The Argentinian forward seemed totally lost on the field. He was struggling so badly that the club's former manager Massimiliano Allegri once asked the club to get rid of Dybala. His value also took a huge hit by falling to 108 million euros (about 121 million US dollars).

Of course, Neymar is faring the worst. His market price fell sharply from 197 million euros (about 221 million US dollars) to 124 million, dragging his ranking from No.3 down to No.17. On the field, Neymar suffered from constant injuries. Since he joined PSG in 2017, he only appeared in 51.8 percent of the club's games. Neymar's image off the field was hurt too as he was accused of allegedly raping a model.