Lionel Messi Valued €87 Million Above Cristiano Ronaldo in CIES Transfer Study

Barcelona's Lionel Messi is worth a whopping €87 million more than his Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo, according to a new transfer study conducted by the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES).

The CIES report credits Messi as the world's most valuable player at €220 million, while Ronaldo, the man often paired with the Argentinian as the two greatest players of their generation, is given an appraisal of merely €133 million in second.

The values are calculated using an exclusive CIES algorithm that takes into account "player performances (matches, goals, dribbles, etc.), their characteristics (age, position, contract duration, etc.), as well as competition level and results achieved by their teams (clubs and national sides)."

Chelsea's Eden Hazard and Diego Costa are valued third and fourth, respectively, while Juventus' Paul Pogba is fifth.

Player	Club	Value (€)
Lionel Messi	Barcelona	220
Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid	133
Eden Hazard	Chelsea	99
Diego Costa	Chelsea	84
Paul Pogba	Juventus	72
Sergio Aguero	Manchester City	65
Raheem Sterling	Liverpool	63
Cesc Fabregas	Chelsea	62
Alexis Sanchez	Arsenal	61
Gareth Bale	Real Madrid	60

Ronaldo is the front-runner ahead of Messi and Manuel Neuer to win this year's Ballon d'Or after Real captured the Champions League and the Copa del Rey in 2014.

The Portuguese has been sensational in the past year, and many have moved him ahead of Messi in terms of being the world's best player, per BBC Sport's Andy West, as Barcelona failed to win any significant silverware last term.

However, as Futbol Life alludes to, despite Messi supposedly dipping in form, both he and Ronaldo have similar, extraordinary records in terms of goals and assists for 2014:

"

Ronaldo's best year: 61 goals 22 assists Messi's worst year: 58 goals 22 assists pic.twitter.com/jNdnXt75RL

— Futbol Life (@FutbolLife) January 4, 2015"

CIES clearly still values Messi as superior to Ronaldo, but what is in no doubt is that enormous sums would have to change hands if anyone wished to prise either player away from his respective club—indeed, £200 million is quoted as the price required for Chelsea to sign the Argentine in recent rumours, per the Daily Mirror's Liam Corless.

Unsurprisingly, given their Champions League triumph, Los Blancos have more players than any other club in the CIES top 100 with 11, the likes of Isco, Karim Benzema and Sergio Ramos all included.

Kerstin Joensson/Associated Press

Meanwhile, Barcelona's next highest-valued player behind Messi is Neymar in 11th at €58 million. Summer signing Luis Suarez takes the 16th spot with a cost of €48 million. 

Perhaps surprisingly, CIES' highest-valued goalkeeper is Chelsea's Thibaut Courtois (€45 million), the Belgian ranking ahead of Bayern Munich's Neuer (€35 million), who is widely regarded as the world's best between the posts, per L'Equipe (h/t @ChampionsLeague), and was integral to Germany's 2014 World Cup victory:

The results of this year's Ballon d'Or voting are set to be announced on Jan. 12. No matter the result, the argument surrounding who is better out of Ronaldo and Messi will continue.

As far as CIES is concerned, Messi carries the significantly greater value, but it remains to be seen which of the pair will have the more successful 2015.