Who is the most expensive 17-year-old footballer of all time?

Football has turned into a sport run by the wealthy and over the recent years we have started to see players from all around the world transfer for extreme nine figure sums.

With the 2024/25 football season starting within the next few weeks, player valuation has been calculated and the stand out star, once again, is Barcelona and Spain’s star boy, 17 year old Lamine Yamal.

Yamal has been given a 120 million euro price tag, let's take a look at the biggest stars in football and what their price tag was when they were 17 years of age.

1. Kylian Mbappe - 250,000

Now 25 years old and has finally completed his lifelong dream of playing for Real Madrid. Kylian Mbappe crashed onto the scene in the 2016/17 in a star studded AS Monaco side that won Ligue 1.

At the age of 17, Mbappe had a market value of 250,000 euros before skyrocketing up to 90 million after his move to PSG at the age of 18.

🔴⚪️ AS Monaco hadn’t won a Ligue 1 title in 17 years.

Then came a 16-year old Kylian Mbappé who ended AS Monaco's Ligue 1 title drought, guiding them to victory with an impressive unbeaten run in the last 20 games of the season.

• 29 Games
• 15 Goals
• 11 Assists pic.twitter.com/aPdfOnF8wV

— MC (@MbappeCentral) November 23, 2023

2. Erling Haaland - 300,000

The Manchester City star striker has secured two golden boots as well as the Premier League twice, Champions League, Club World Cup and the FA Cup since his arrival in Manchester.

A 17 year old Haaland had his first full season in professional football scoring 12 goals and 4 assists under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer before securing a move to RB Salzburg and then transferring to Borussia Dortmund after only a season in Austria.

Haaland made his big move in 2021 to Manchester City in a move that caused a lot of mixed emotion as to whether he will be able to perform in the Premier League…

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer worked with Erling Haaland for two years at Molde, giving the striker his debut at the age of 16 back in 2017. pic.twitter.com/I1QnrG56mf

— Football Talent Scout - Jacek Kulig (@FTalentScout) February 2, 2020

3. Vinicius Junior - 10 million

The Real Madrid man has finally claimed his throne at the Bernabeu after scoring the goal that put the Champions League to bed last season.

Vinicius Junior had an extremely slow start to life in Madrid and had taken multiple years to find his feet but at the age of 24, the Brazilian has entered the Balon D’or conversation after an impressive season.

Aged 17, Vinicius had his first season in his home country with Flamengo. It did not take Real Madrid no more than two games before his 38 million euro release clause was triggered and the teenager was off to Real Madrid the following season.

How it started How it's going pic.twitter.com/F562uRxPvb

— Flamengo (@Flamengo_en) April 6, 2022

4. Rodrygo Goes - 10 million

Rodrygo has had a fantastic last few seasons in Madrid. Scoring a late winner against Manchester City to knock them out of the Champions League, winning the Champions League more times than most players ever will, all before the age of 23.

Rodrygo started life in Santos and as a 17 year old was a key player in the Santos side with consistent minutes scoring 12 goals and 4 assists in his first full season with the first team.

Rodrygo got his big money move to Real Madrid in 2019 for a fee of 45 million euros and now with a value of 110 million, Rodrygo is set to battle for his position in the Real Madrid squad with the addition of Kylian Mbappe.

Background: Rodrygo is only 18 years old, but was a top next generation prospect when still in Brazil. Rodrygo played for Santos, a club known for academy products. Real Madrid didn’t want to miss out on another Ronaldhino or Neymar so they put all their efforts into signing him. pic.twitter.com/vvylb94zmD

— RM. (@rmdanalysis) November 7, 2019

5. Jude Bellingham - 27 million

Jude Bellingham is not your ordinary English footballer, having moved away from England before 17 for a fee of 11 million from Birmingham to Dortmund, it was clear that Bellingham was the next big star to come out of England.

Bellingham was a starter for Dortmund from the start and even wore the captain armband on multiple different occasions. Bellingham scored 4 and assisted 4 in his first season as a 17 year old in Dortmund and played an impressive 46 games in all competitions.

Now 21, playing for England in the Euros final and winning the Champions League in a Real Madrid superteam, Bellingham is the most valuable player in the world and shows no sign of slowing down.

People laughed when Birmingham retired Jude Bellingham's shirt when he was 17, after just 44 appearances.

Now he's on the verge of joining Real Madrid at 19 in one of the most expensive transfers in football history 🙃 pic.twitter.com/vWtYZILEQx

— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) June 8, 2023

6. Ansu Fati - 80 million

Labelled the next Messi, Ansu Fati had the perfect start to life at Barcelona. Being the breakout star and a regular player at the age of 17, Fati had everything lined out for him.

Fati was given the number 10 at Barcelona when Messi parted ways and joined PSG. However, the fairytale did not last long, Fati’s form depleted and other academy stars were shining as well as new stars joining from other clubs saw the new number 10 get limited minutes.

Fati joined Brighton on a season long loan to try and pick his form up under De Zerbi but that was also a failed loan spell. Now, back at Barcelona and not set on being a player to feature, Barcelona will be looking to offload the 21 year old.

Fati’s price tag has dropped from 80 million when he was only 17 to now, 25 million at the age of 21.

📚HISTORY | Today, Ansu Fati became the youngest player to ever score two goals in one game in @LaLigaEN. 🍼 pic.twitter.com/lfJqKJzGYq

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 2, 2020

This just goes to show how much of a star studded talent Lamine Yamal is as his 120 million valuation just weeks after his 17th birthday is up there with the best in the world. But with a 1 billion release clause, and in the form of his life at one of the best clubs in the world, why would you ever want to leave?