BUENOS AIRES, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- With Argentina's star soccer player Lionel Messi injured and unable to represent his national team in the upcoming World Cup Russia 2018 qualifiers, the South American side is no longer the most valuable team in the region in terms of it's players' market value.
According to statistics published by specialized soccer site Transfermarkt, the FC Barcelona forward is the most expensive player in the world, along with Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo, with a market value of around 134 million U.S. dollars.
This means that at the start of the World Cup qualifiers, Brazil will be the most expensive team in South America with a team valued at 465 million U.S. dollars. This is 25 million U.S. dollars more than the current Argentinian team even though Brazil is also without their star player, Neymar.
Without Messi, Sergio "Kun" Aguero becomes Argentina's most expensive player with a market value of 67 million U.S. dollars followed by Angel Di Maria who is worth around 56 million U.S. dollars, according to the soccer information website.
Brazil's price table is headed by Chelsea's midfielder Oscar with a cost of 42.6 million U.S. dollars followed by forwards Hulk and Lucas who the site evaluate at 41.4 and 35.8 million U.S. dollars respectively.
In terms of the market price of players, the third most expensive South American team is Colombia even though their star James Rodriguez (89.6 million U.S. dollars) is currently absent from the team. The current team is allegedly valued at 207 million U.S. dollars.
Behind them is Uruguay (151 million U.S. dollars), Chile (119 million), Ecuador (74 million), Peru (50 million), Venezuela (42 million) and Paraguay (38 million).
Bolivia come in at last place with a team that is valued at only 5.6 million U.S. dollars, according to Transfermarkt.