Are English football players overvalued?

Figures & data

Table 1. Player and valuation summary statistics.

Panel A: Summary Statistics of Players by Nationality
Variable	All	English	French	German	Italian	Spanish	R.o.W.
Value	8.36	11.51	8.49	7.82	4.33	9.41	8.92
Wages	41.59	51.77	32.72	39.07	30.16	46.49	45.40
Age	27.75	27.20	26.56	27.46	27.49	28.77	28.18
BMI	21.31	22.05	21.70	20.83	20.91	22.01	21.14
Performance	125.20	125.50	119.37	127.15	116.73	132.56	127.73
Reputation	125.19	126.25	119.34	127.58	116.04	132.25	127.79
Number of Observations	2730	216	407	267	382	275	1183
Panel B: Valuations of Players by Position and Nationality
Position	All	English	Non-English	$\mathit{t}$-statistic	$\mathit{p}$-value
Goalkeepers	4.89	5.09	4.86	0.10	0.92
Defenders	7.38	11.81	7.01	3.33	0.00
Midfielders	8.55	8.34	8.56	−0.11	0.91
Attackers	10.26	16.01	9.75	2.79	0.01
All positions	8.36	11.51	8.09	3.30	0.00
Panel C: Wages of Players by Position and Nationality
Position	All	English	Non-English	$\mathit{t}$-statistic	$\mathit{p}$-value
Goalkeepers	29.15	35.11	28.62	0.65	0.52
Defenders	35.58	47.56	34.57	2.07	0.04
Midfielders	43.02	59.55	41.80	1.91	0.06
Attackers	50.99	55.63	50.47	0.48	0.63
All positions	41.59	51.77	40.67	2.29	0.02

Values are given in millions of British pounds; wages are given in thousands of pounds per week. The $\mathit{t}$-statistic and associated $\mathit{p}$-value are for a two-sided test of the null hypothesis that the average English and non-English players are equal.

Table 2. Numbers and percentages of players of each nationality in the top five European leagues.

Panel A: Numbers of Players
	England	France	Italy	Germany	Spain	Rest Of World	Total
Premier League	210	35	6	14	32	306	603
Ligue 1	3	305	7	4	7	213	539
Serie A	1	23	361	5	14	303	707
Bundesliga	2	25	3	242	9	213	494
La Liga	0	19	5	2	213	148	387
Total	216	407	382	267	275	1183	2730
Panel B: Percentages of Players
	England	France	Italy	Germany	Spain	Rest Of World
Premier League	34.83	5.80	1.00	2.32	5.31	50.75
Ligue 1	0.56	56.59	1.30	0.74	1.30	39.52
Serie A	0.14	3.25	51.06	0.71	1.98	42.86
Bundesliga	0.40	5.06	0.61	48.99	1.82	43.12
La Liga	0.00	4.91	1.29	0.52	55.04	38.24

Table 3. Average player performance statistics by nationality.

	All nationalities	English	Non-English	t-statistic	p-value
Goalkeepers	120.66	110.06	121.87	−2.99	0.00
Defenders	124.98	127.87	124.75	1.38	0.17
Midfielders	126.72	128.56	126.58	0.73	0.46
Attackers	125.81	127.97	125.61	1.02	0.31
All positions	125.20	125.50	125.17	3.30	0.00

Table 4. Regression results to explain player log-values with country, league, player position dummy variables and performance variables.

Variable	Goalkeepers		Attackers		Midfielders		Defenders
Intercept	−1.650	−1.439	−8.985***	−8.922***	−5.727***	−6.503***	−10.077***	−10.127***
	(2.084)	(2.077)	(1.464)	(1.452)	(1.767)	(1.762)	(1.578)	(1.568)
English	0.028	0.087	0.374**	0.471***	−0.057	0.157	−0.016	0.090
	(0.269)	(0.226)	(0.149)	(0.133)	(0.181)	(0.170)	(0.132)	(0.119)
French	0.147	0.378*	−0.028	0.039	0.005	0.101	0.204*	0.257**
	(0.248)	(0.196)	(0.126)	(0.116)	(0.146)	(0.140)	(0.108)	(0.101)
Spanish	−0.096	−0.055	−0.055	−0.106	0.123	0.058	−0.197	−0.227*
	(0.305)	(0.231)	(0.150)	(0.143)	(0.149)	(0.136)	(0.139)	(0.125)
Italian	−0.175	−0.236	−0.095	−0.223***	−0.238*	−0.415***	−0.197*	−0.287***
	(0.255)	(0.181)	(0.124)	(0.109)	(0.133)	(0.119)	(0.112)	(0.097)
German	−0.183	−0.398*	−0.179	−0.139	−0.075	−0.061	−0.072	−0.097
	(0.250)	(0.206)	(0.133)	(0.121)	(0.133)	(0.121)	(0.119)	(0.108)
Premier League	0.345		0.063		0.248*		0.167
	(0.267)		(0.121)		(0.135)		(0.125)
Ligue 1	0.552*		0.095		0.130		0.145
	(0.287)		(0.140)		(0.151)		(0.132)
Serie A	0.214		−0.200		−0.206		−0.067
	(0.303)		(0.131)		(0.130)		(0.129)
La Liga	0.320		−0.181		−0.144		−0.011
	(0.321)		(0.145)		(0.147)		(0.147)
International Apps.	0.005	0.006*	−0.002	−0.002	0.002	0.003	−0.003	−0.003
	(0.003)	(0.003)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)
BMI	−0.007	−0.001	0.001	0.001	−0.002	−0.002	−0.003	−0.004
	(0.011)	(0.010)	(0.005	0.005	0.005	0.005	0.005	0.005
Age	0.257*	0.260*	0.161	0.166	0.097	0.159	0.189	0.190
	(0.147)	(0.146)	(0.102)	(0.102)	(0.119)	(0.119)	(0.103)	(0.103)
Age Squared	−0.006***	−0.006***	−0.005**	−0.005***	−0.004**	−0.005***	−0.006***	−0.006***
	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)
# observations	257	257	681	681	458	458	627	627
# performance stats	6	6	25	25	23	23	26	26
R-squared	0.693	0.688	0.761	0.741	0.800	0.792	0.784	0.782
Adj R-squared	0.669	0.669	0.745	0.727	0.783	0.777	0.770	0.769
F-stat	28.19	35.43	46.76	54.28	46.80	50.69	54.78	60.60
Prob F-stat	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000

Note: Reference categories are rest of the world nationality (i.e. not England, France, Germany, Italy or Spain) and Bundesliga. Standard errors in parentheses; *, **, and *** denote significance at the 10%, 5% and 1% levels, respectively.

Table 5. Regression results to explain player log-wages with country, league, player position dummy variables and performance variables.

Variable	Goalkeepers		Attackers		Midfielders		Defenders
Intercept	−2.210	−2.105	−10.288***	−10.660***	−9.818***	−10.065***	−6.342***	−6.791***
	(1.589)	(1.581)	(1.235)	(1.231)	(1.684)	(1.658)	(1.432)	(1.446)
English	0.139	0.243	0.284**	0.434***	0.325**	0.438***	−0.006	0.211**
	(0.188)	(0.160)	(0.115)	(0.104)	(0.162)	(0.151)	(0.110)	(0.102)
French	0.068	0.014	0.043	0.011	0.103	0.114	−0.017	−0.075
	(0.221)	(0.168)	(0.105)	(0.099)	(0.151)	(0.149)	(0.099)	(0.094)
Spanish	0.239	0.283	0.010	0.075	0.304*	0.208	−0.078	−0.035
	(0.327)	(0.314)	(0.130)	(0.126)	(0.158)	(0.146)	(0.137)	(0.127)
Italian	−0.112	−0.023	0.020	−0.027	−0.211*	−0.244	−0.034	−0.128
	(0.182)	(0.133)	(0.102)	(0.091)	(0.124)	(0.110)	(0.099)	(0.089)
German	−0.082	−0.254*	−0.008	−0.069	0.194	0.200*	−0.198*	−0.238**
	(0.173)	(0.146)	(0.102)	(0.094)	(0.121)	(0.112)	(0.100)	(0.093)
Premier League	0.349*		0.256***		0.124		0.313***
	(0.185)		(0.094)		(0.121)		(0.105)
Ligue 1	0.177		0.029		−0.072		−0.106
	(0.230)		(0.116)		(0.146)		(0.120)
Serie A	0.326		0.031		−0.048		−0.056
	(0.214)		(0.103)		(0.118)		(0.109)
La Liga	0.329		0.180		−0.253		0.087
	(0.284)		(0.128)		(0.166)		(0.148)
International Apps.	0.007***	0.008***	0.004**	0.004***	0.006***	0.006***	0.004***	0.004***
	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)
BMI	−0.008	−0.005	−0.003	−0.003	0.008	0.007	−0.006	−0.005
	(0.008)	(0.007)	(0.004)	(0.004)	(0.005)	(0.005)	(0.004)	(0.004)
Age	0.137	0.129	0.225***	0.239***	0.387***	0.409***	0.010	0.020
	(0.112)	(0.111)	(0.085)	(0.085)	(0.114)	(0.113)	(0.092)	(0.094)
Age Squared	−0.002	−0.002	−0.003**	−0.003**	−0.006***	−0.007***	0.000	0.000
	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.001)	(0.001)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)
# observations	203	203	597	597	399	399	627	627
# performance stats	6	6	25	25	23	23	26	26
R-squared	0.759	0.754	0.761	0.757	0.734	0.702	0.784	0.716
Adj R-squared	0.735	0.734	0.745	0.742	0.708	0.797	0.770	0.696
F-stat	30.42	38.20	46.76	51.40	27.82	50.69	54.78	36.33
Prob F-stat	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Note: Reference categories are rest of the world nationality (i.e. not England, France, Germany, Italy or Spain) and Bundesliga. Standard errors in parentheses; *, **, and *** denote significance at the 10%, 5% and 1% levels, respectively.

Table 6. Shapley-Owen decomposition for groups of variables.

Nationality	22%	4%	18%
League	38%	7%	33%
Player characteristics	4%	13%	3%
Player position			15%
International Appearances	37%	3%	30%
Performance		73%