Super Eagles legend Jay-Jay Okocha’s €150m claim is ludicrous. Here’s why

April 24, 2023 Sports 1 Views

The former Super Eagles captain believes he would have cost close to a world-record fee in the current market. However, the evidence simply does not support his claim

Former Nigeria international Jay-Jay Okocha is in the news for a claim he made to Turkish outlet Hurriyet recently.

Jay-Jay Okocha reveals why he would be more expensive than Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez

Asked what a player like him would go for in today’s transfer market, the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) winner estimated his abilities as potentially being worth €150m. His reasoning for this, beyond the explosion of transfer fees over the last 15 years, was to cite the €121m fee Chelsea paid to acquire Argentina international Enzo Fernandez – a “defensive midfielder” – from Benfica.

This has predictably set fingers fluttering on the internet, with many weighing in with their opinions on Okocha’s statement. Well, it need not be the subject of controversy: figuring out whether that view is true or not is fairly simple.

First of all, what would a €150m fee represent in today’s market? Well, a player purchased for that amount would immediately be the third-most expensive footballer in the world, not just today, but in the sport’s history. Only Neymar, who moved to Paris Saint-Germain from Barcelona for €222m in 2017, and Kylian Mbappe, who also went to Paris from Monaco for up to €180m in the same year, have cost more.

Jay-Jay Okocha’s €150m claim is ludicrous: it would've made him the third most expensive player ever, after Neymar and Mbappe — PSG’s 2017 spending spree made Neymar and Kylian Mbappe the two most expensive footballers in the world. (IMAGO/Sportfoto Rudel)

For further context, here is the top 10.

	From/To	Year	Fee
Neymar	Barcelona – PSG	2017	€222m
Kylian Mbappe	Monaco – PSG	2017	€145m (+€35m loan fee)
Joao Felix	Benfica – Atletico Madrid	2019	€126m
Enzo Fernandez	Benfica – Chelsea	2023	€121m
Philippe Coutinho	Liverpool – Barcelona	2018	€120m (+€40m add-ons)
Antoine Griezmann	Atletico Madrid – Barcelona	2019	€120m
Jack Grealish	Aston Villa – Manchester City	2021	€117m
Romelu Lukaku	Inter – Chelsea	2021	€115m
Ousmane Dembele	Borussia Dortmund – Barcelona	2017	€105m (+€45m)
Paul Pogba	Juventus – Manchester United	2016	€105m

There are two obvious questions that easily disprove Okocha’s valuation. The first is this: in his own market, was he at any point the third-most expensive footballer in the world?

The highest transfer fee the former Super Eagles captain ever commanded was the €15m Paris Saint-Germain paid to Fenerbahce to sign him in the summer of 1998. To be clear, this was no small sum – it was, at the time, the most money that had ever been paid for a footballer by a French club. Impressive though the fee was, it did not register in the top 10 for record transfer fees at that time.

So, even in his own time, his skills were never prized that highly.

The second question: what circumstances in Okocha’s career are shared in common with the other members of the current top 10 as listed above? After all, it is possible that, in those days of less advanced scouting and exposure, it was possible to miss things; if we can establish that there was a circumstantial link between him and them, we may be able to establish the claim that, by simply transplanting him into this era, he might command a valuation in the same ballpark.

Even in his own day and market, Jay-Jay Okocha's talents never elicited a world record-level fee. — Even in his own day, Okocha’s talents never elicited a world record-level fee. (IMAGO/PanoramiC)

Of the 10 highest transfer fees listed above, six (all of the first four, Antoine Griezmann and Jack Grealish) were influenced by clauses in the player’s erstwhile contract. Fernandez – to whom Okocha compared himself – and Griezmann were both World Cup winners; the former had, in fact, been named the best young player at the 2022 edition in Qatar. Romelu Lukaku, Kylian Mbappe, Joao Felix, Ousmane Dembele and Paul Pogba all moved in the aftermath of carrying their previous clubs to league and/or (domestic/European) cup success.

Over the course of his career, to which of these circumstances could Okocha relate? Exactly: none. He never had a prohibitive release clause that interested parties could have been forced to meet; he never reached the latter stages of a World Cup; he never won a league title or even a cup at any of his clubs.

Now, it is important to stress that none of this implies, in any way, that Okocha was anything less than a fantastic footballer. The regard in which he is held is well-earned, and little of what is said about him is overly embellished—it really is not necessary to, given how outrageously talented he was. Transfer worth is not the most reliable metric for determining a player’s ability, in any case.

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That said, his claim simply is not supported by any actual evidence. While transfer fees have exploded and the market has been skewed in recent years, there is still a semblance of logic to the valuations. They are not simply plucked out of the ether.