SOCCER:'Messi worth €87m more than Ronaldo'

The Argentine has topped a research group's
findings which tallied the 120 highest-valued
footballers in the world
Lionel Messi is worth €87 million more than
Cristiano Ronaldo, according to research within the
International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) in
Switzerland.
The 27-year-old attacker has won four Ballons d'Or
in his career so far and skippered Argentina to the
World Cup final last year, winning the Golden Ball
award for being the best player in the process.
Like Ronaldo with Real Madrid, Messi has a contract
with Barcelona until June 2018, although reports
have been circulating in recent weeks that he might
swap Camp Nou for Chelsea due to discontent in
Catalunya.
But Chelsea will know Messi will not be cheap: the
Football Observatory, a research group within CIES,
suggest Messi currently has a valuation of €220m.
Ronaldo is next in the list, valued at €133m, while
world-record signing Gareth Bale sits in 10th with
an estimated net worth of €60m to the Santiago
Bernabeu club.
Chelsea have three players in the top 10: Eden
Hazard is rated at €99m in third spot just ahead of
fourth-placed Diego Costa (€84m) and fellow
summer signing Cesc Fabregas in eighth (€62m).
Juventus bagged Paul Pogba for free in 2012, now
he's valued at €72m - fifth in CIES' ranking as of
January 2015 - while the other three spots in the
top 10 are filled by Premier League players:
Manchester City's Sergio Aguero at €65m in sixth,
Liverpool's Raheem Sterling at €63m in seventh and
Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez.
Notable absentees from the top 10 include Neymar
(11th at €58m), Bayern Munich's highest-valued
star Mario Gotze (13th at €52m) and 2014's most
expensive player Luis Suarez (16th at €48m).
European champions Real Madrid have the most
players on the list with eight other stars in addition
to Ronaldo and Bale in the top 120: James
Rodriguez in 15th, Isco in 17th, Karim Benzema in
21st, Toni Kroos in 23rd, Luka Modric in 27th,
Sergio Ramos in 40th, Dani Carvajal in 68th, Raphael
Varane in 87th and Marcelo in 94th.
The oldest player in CIES' 2015 valuation tally is 31-
year-old Franck Ribery, tied for 106th at €20m,
while Manchester United's teenage left-back Luke
Shaw is valued at €26m along with Mario Balotelli
and Gerard Pique in 65th.