The value of Leicester City’s squad could “triple or quadruple” after their Premier League title win.
The Foxes’ squad was assembled for £57m, the cheapest of any currently in the top half of the table.
“If you take Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez as individuals, you’re looking at £70m there,” said agent and sports lawyer David Seligman of Leicester’s attacking duo.
“You’re looking at a team of upwards of £200m.”
Leicester paid £1m for 29-year-old former non-league striker Vardy in 2012, while winger Mahrez, 25, joined for £400,000 in 2014.
Mahrez and Vardy have scored or assisted 48 of Leicester’s 64 league goals this season, and have both earned international caps for England and Algeria respectively.
France midfielder N’Golo Kante, 25, was bought from Caen for £5.6m and has also been a key asset for Claudio Ranieri’s side this term.
In January, research conducted by the International Centre for Sports Studies valued Vardy and Kante at 25m euros (£19.8m), with Mahrez at 40m euros (£31.7m).
Those figures differ from the values provided by market value analysis website Transfermarkt in the above graphic, although Seligman believes Leicester’s star names could command even higher prices.
“If people are paying £50m plus for Raheem Sterling, then Mahrez is worth more than that. He’s still got his peak to come,” said Seligman.
“Kante signed an initial contract a year ago and hasn’t signed another one and only has a year left. His rise has been meteoric.
“They’re all going on to be international players and that adds to the price tag. They’re better players now and also they’re superstars commercially. Their values are going to increase massively.”
Vardy signed a new three-year contract with Leicester in February, but has been linked with moves to former champions Manchester United and Chelsea.
“If you’ve got clubs like Chelsea, United and Arsenal coming in I don’t think you can turn them down – even if you wouldn’t be playing week in week out,” added Seligman.
“But Leicester are champions with billionaire owners. If United can pay someone £200k a week then so can Leicester.”
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