Does England’s World Cup squad have enough value to take home the World Cup title?
The discussion about the legitimate 2018 World Cup title contenders typically starts with one of five places: Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, and France. Then the shift is in the direction of Belgium and might go as far as to include Uruguay and Portugal. But how does England fit into all of this? Does their squad include the raw value that the likes of Germany and France have in their ranks? Lets take a look.
Looking ahead to their Sunday evening clash with Group G basement dwellers Panama, England look to cement their place in the final 16. With a win 2–1 over Tunisia to their name, the Three Lions are keen on throwing their hats into the title contenders’ ring. But the question that needs answering is can England’s boys go toe to toe with the worlds best in order to take home some hardware this summer? Lets do a little comparative analysis.
The logical jumping off point here is with the goal scorers. Lets put Harry Kane of England up against Germany’s center forward, Timo Werner. Kane is coming off another fantastic season for London outfit Tottenham Hotspur and his hot form continued in England’s opener with a two-goal effort. Timo Werner had himself a great season as well with Red Bull Leipzig. However, Timo’s performance in Germany’s shocking opening match defeat to Mexico left much to be desired. With a little help form our friends at Transfermarkt, we can put a number value on each of these players. Harry Kane is valued at 150,000,000 Euros while Werner checks in at 60,000,00. Keep in mind that Transfermarkt also clocks Ronaldo in at around 100,000,000 euros as these numbers are not updated daily or even weekly. All things considered, we are going to say advantage England in this center forward showdown.
Lets move into the midfield and see if England has what it takes in the engine room to win it all. England has utilized Liverpool man Jordan Henderson in the center of the park to play in front of the back line and pick their passes. Moving from Germany to France, we are going to spotlight French midfielder N’golo Kante. Henderson put in a solid effort against Tunisia but his team as a whole put forth an uninspiring performance. Kante has received criticism for a lack of creativity when going forward but continues to get the job done making critical tackles and thwarting counters. Henderson is valued at 25,000,000 Euros according to Transfermarkt while Kante is credited with a 60,000,000 valuation. While a 35,000,000 Euro difference might not exactly reflect the real life difference between these two midfielders, Kante gets the edge here.
Our final matchup in the quest to determine the legitimacy of England’s title hopes is at the right back position. Kieran Trippier as England’s representative and Fágner will be our standard bearer for Brazil. Tripper has had a successful spell with Tottenham, despite splitting fullback duties with Danny Rose. A real threat going forward for club and country, Trippier certainly has what it takes to compete at the top level. Fágner plies his trade in the Brazilian top flight for Corinthians. The 29-year old made his 2018 World Cup bow against Costa Rica and did a tidy job helping Brazil to a 2–0 victory. Transfermarkt has a 20,000,000 Euro tag on Trippier and a 6,000,000 Euro on Fágner. While both players have turned in solid performances thus far, Trippier has the edge here.
Do these three comparisons tell the whole story of England and their shot at winning the title? No. Nor are we suggesting that is the case. However, these examples do show that England have the personnel to compete with the world’s best. Player valuations are constantly changing but after the opening days of the World Cup, we think England might have what it takes to give the title contenders a run for their money.
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