Leeds United’s Willy Gnonto has been ranked as the Championship’s most valuable player with a contract of three years or more.
As the transfer window slammed shut six days ago, there was huge relief at Elland Road that the club can now look ahead to the rest of the season not worrying about player exits.
The Willy Gnonto saga has officially come to an end with the Italian international staying put despite huge drama in August.
Having not been named in the EFL Cup squad that took on Shrewsbury in round one, the club put out a statement confirming the winger had refused to play and would be subject to internal disciplinary discussions.
The club also reiterated that the Italian was not for sale, amid interest from Everton in the Premier League, as they tabled an offer of £25million
He has since been brought back into the first team group for the last three outings, scoring in his first game back against Ipswich Town.
Now, CIES Football Observatory have shared their valuation of the talented 19-year-old as part of their tool to measure the worth of everyone in the Championship with three or more years left on their contract.
At the top of the list in the Championship is Gnonto, with a value of €40million (£34.4m), while a handful of other Leeds stars feature in the top 12 – dominated totally by the three relegated clubs:
Gnonto is arguably the one in the Championship that could be sold for the most money right now out of all those names, so it makes sense.
Their calculation makes sense too not to include those with two years or less on their deals, knowing that this can skew their value and make them seem to be worth less.
We saw it with the signing of Karl Darlow and Joel Piroe for fees not indicative of how good they actually are.
It does show how far off Everton were in signing Gnonto, though, with Gnonto looking to command nearly £10million more than the Toffees could muster in the summer months.
It does show the power that the relegated clubs have when they come down, that all 12 of the most valuable players in the list are from either Leeds, Southampton, or Leicester City.
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