The competition to win Europa League will be stronger than ever, with European giants Juventus and Barcelona dropping from the Champions League. Here’s the Most Valuable XI.
Sky Sport and Transfermarkt have put together an ideal Europa League XI featuring the costliest footballers involved in the competition from February.
Barcelona players dominate it, having five players included in the team, while the only Serie A representative is Juventus star Dusan Vlahovic. Both teams were relegated to Europa League after finishing their Champions League group third.
Juve and Barça will meet the Europa League group-stage runners-up, meaning that the Serie A giants could face Cristiano Ronaldo’s Manchester United, while Roma may get Barcelona in the draw that will take place this coming Monday.
But who are the best and most valuable players in the competition? Let’s take a look.
Goalkeeper: Marc-André ter Stegen (Barcelona, worth €30m)
Right-back: Diogo Dalot (Man Utd, €32m)
Centre-back: Ronald Araujo (Barcelona, €60m).
Centre-back: Joules Kounde (Barcelona, €60m)
Left-back: Oleksandr Zinchenko (Arsenal, worth €32)
Central midfielder: Pedri (Barcelona €90m)
Central midfielder: Gavi (Barcelona, €70m)
Right winger: Antony (Man Utd, €75m)
Attacking midfielder: Bruno Fernandes (Man Utd, €75m)
Left winger: Saka (Arsenal, €90m)
Striker: Dusan Vlahovic (Juventus, €85).
Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t feature in the XI given that his transfer value has dropped to €20m, according to Transfermarkt, but will surely be among the men to watch in Europa League as long as he remains at Manchester United beyond January.
Federico Chiesa (€65m), Paul Pogba (€48m), Tammy Abraham (€50m) and Lorenzo Pellegrini (€45m) are among the highest-valued players in Europa League, although they don’t make the Most Valuable XI.