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Ahead of the January transfer window, the Jupiler Pro League has become the latest league to be updated on Transfermarkt. Altogether, 453 players in Belgium’s first division received new market values. While Christos Tzolis remains unchanged at the top with a market value of €30m, there was some movement behind the Club Brugge star. Most notably, 18-year-old Genk midfielder Konstantinos Karetsas saw his market value increase to €28m, and together with Tzolis’ teammate Joel Ordóñez, is now second in the market value ranking.
“There were/are high expectations of Karetsas this season, but he struggled somewhat at the start of the season and, with only one assist, he was unable to really make his mark,” Area Manager Belgium Bart Tamsyn said about the teenager. “Thorsten Fink then moved him to the right wing instead of playing him as a playmaker, which apparently had a liberating effect. In the nine matches he started in that position, he scored two goals and provided no fewer than eight assists. He is therefore largely responsible for Genk being back in contention for a place in the top six.” As a result, Karetsas' market value is now up by €5m from his previous €23m.
Meanwhile, at RSC Anderlecht, another teenager is among the biggest winners of the market-value update. “Nathan De Cat has become an indispensable part in the midfield of Belgium record champions’ starting eleven, an Anderlecht that seems to have rediscovered its drive with five consecutive victories,” Tamsyn said. “With a contract that expires in 2027, there is a chance that he will be sold this winter to finish the season with the Belgian record champions. BVB and Bayern Munich, among others, are mentioned, with Anderlecht unlikely to settle for a transfer fee of less than 25 million euros.” De Cat, who was recently featured in the Transfermarkt Talents Calendar, saw his market value explode by 142.9% from €7m to €17m.
Belgium market values: Talents to watch – Brugge with several standouts
Without a doubt, De Cat is one to watch. But he isn’t the only talent to come through in a league that remains one of the hottest talent factories in Europe. “There are some talents coming through, but it is still too early to say who will follow in the footsteps of Karetsas or De Cat,” Tamsyn said. “At Antwerp, for example, you have Xander Dierckx (+€400,000 to €400,000), who made his debut at the age of 16 and is the first player born in 2009 to have played in the Jupiler Pro League. Other young talents who have gained playing time are his 17-year-old teammate Youssef Hamdaoui (+€750,000 to €1m), 17-year-old Moncef Zekri (+€1.5m to €4m), and 18-year-old Ian Struyf (+€250,000 to €400,000) from KV Mechelen, 18-year-old Davis Opoku (+€300,000 to €500,000) at OH Leuven, and 19-year-old Lucas Mbamba (+€450,000 to €600,000) at KVC Westerlo.
At Brugge, Tzolis has stagnated after a slow start to the season. But some of his teammates have excelled. One of those players is forward Carlos Forbs. “Forbs' speed in particular can be a nightmare for the opposition's defence,” Tamsyn said. “In the 3-3 draw against Barcelona, for example, he scored two goals and provided one assist. During the recent international break, he also made his debut for the Portuguese national team.” As a result, Forbs’ market value has gone up by €5m from €10m to €15m.
Also up to €15m is one of Forbs’ teammates: Aleksandar Stanković (€2m to €15m). “He is somewhat comparable to Joaquin Seys (unchanged at €15m),” Tamsyn said. “They are a stable factor within Club Brugge, but with the Bruges team going through a somewhat less successful period, they are also unable to raise their level to lift the quality back up. However, they have both made their international debuts, and no one doubts that they will make a transfer to a club in one of the big five leagues.”
How Transfermarkt market values work
The Transfermarkt market values are calculated, taking into account various pricing models. A major factor is the Transfermarkt community, whose members discuss and evaluate player market values in detail. In general, the Transfermarkt market values are not to be equated with transfer fees.
The goal is not to predict a price but an expected value of a player in a free market. Both individual transfer modalities and situational conditions are relevant in determining market values. Examples of this are listed below. Transfermarkt does not use an algorithm (you can find the detailed market value definition here).
