Wales host Finland in the semi-final of their Euro 2024 qualifying play-off path on Thursday evening, with the pair’s squad values separated by more than £120million.
After failing to secure direct qualification to this summer’s European Championship in Germany, Wales have been afforded a second chance at qualifying via the play-offs.
Rob Page’s side have been drawn into Path A, where they’ll host Finland in the semi-final on Thursday, and if they reign victorious – a final at the Cardiff City Stadium against either Poland or Estonia will follow five days later.
A group containing France, Austria and the Netherlands awaits the winner of their Euro 2024 qualifying play-off path, as the Welsh attempt to qualify for a third successive, and third overall, European Championship finals.
It will be Wales and Finland’s fourth meeting in the last four years, with the last clash in Helsinki ending goalless, and we at SportsLens are doing a deep dive on the squad values of both sides ahead of the action.
Wales vs Finland Squad Values Compared: Positional Breakdown
Goalkeepers
The goalkeeping department is a major worry for Wales heading into March’s international window, as all four of their stoppers have played little to no football in 2023/24.
Leicester benchwarmer Danny Ward (£1.7m), who will likely be named in Page’s line-up, is the most valuable of the four, with Adam Davies (£425k), Wayne Hennessey (£215k) and Tom King (£170k) unlikely to feature.
Finland boast a higher valued set of goalkeepers despite only selecting three, with Bayer Leverkusen‘s Lukas Hradecky (£2.15m), Jesse Joronen (£685k) and Viljami Sinisalo (£510k) combining to a value of £3.345m, whilst Wales’ four are valued at £2.51m.
Defenders
The disparity in values becomes evident when comparing both sets of defenders, as Wales’ seven combine to a value just shy of £45m, while the Finnish seven are worth just £3.93m.
Nottingham Forest’s Neco Williams leads the way for the Welsh defenders at a value of £14.5m, followed by Tottenham‘s Ben Davies (£10.25m), Connor Roberts (£6m), Chris Mepham (£6m) and Joe Rodon (£5.1m). Championship duo Jay Dasilva (£1.7m) and Morgan Fox (£510k) are also options for the Dragons at the back.
None of Finland’s seven defenders are worth more than £1m, with the most valuable being Charlotte FC left-back Jere Uronen at around £850k. Richard Jensen and Robert Ivanov are valued at around £640k, respectively, whilst Arttu Hoskonen and Miro Tenho are worth £510k. Right-backs Nikolai Alho (£425k) and Pyry Soiri (£340k) have also been selected.
Midfielders
Despite mostly being fielded in central defence by Leeds United in recent months, Ethan Ampadu is usually deployed in midfield for Wales. The 23-year-old is the most valuable player among their midfield options, with Transfermarkt pricing him as a riser at £12.8m.
Also a riser, young Birmingham City midfielder Jordan James, who will likely line-up alongside Ampadu, is valued at £3.85m. Captain Aaron Ramsey (£1.025m), Rubin Colwill (£850k), Dylan Levitt (£685k), Charlie Savage (£510k) and Josh Sheehan (£260k) are among their other options.
Finland’s midfield dwarfs the value of their defence by more than £10m, with the likes of Glen Kamara (£5.125m), Fredrik Jensen (£3m), Kaan Kairinen (£1.88m) and Robin Lod (£1.71m) providing the bulk of the value to reach a total of £13.7m.
Rasmus Schuller (£600k), Matti Peltola (£510k), Anssi Suhonen (£600k) and Ilmari Niskanen (£300k) have also been named in the squad, and are all rated at less than £1m.
Forwards
Valued at a whopping £41m, Tottenham Hotspur forward Brennan Johnson is the most valuable player listed in both squads. In fact, the 22-year-old is worth over £10m more than Finland’s entire squad put together!
Harry Wilson (£14.5m), Daniel James (£12m) and David Brooks (£7.7m), who are all likely to feature against the Finnish, are some of Wales’ most valuable forwards, and provide a large chunk of the £97.9m total in value across the front line. Nathan Broadhead (£3.4m), Rabbi Matondo (£2.15m), Kieffer Moore (£1.88m) and Liam Cullen (£1m) are also in the squad.
In comparison to Wales’ near-£100m attack, Finland’s forwards combine to a value just shy of £8.9m. Venezia’s Joel Pohjanpalo (£3m) and Middlesbrough’s Marcus Forss (£2.56m) make the most of that sum, with legendary Norwich striker Teemu Pukki now rated at just £1.28m.
To complete their options in attack, Markku Kanerva has also selected Daniel Hakans (£850k) of Valeranga, Oliver Antman (£600k) of Norsjaelland and Cracovia striker Benjamin Kallman (£600k).
Full Wales vs Finland Squad Values
Wales – £152.76m
Finland – £29.85m
Note: All player values are based on listings from Transfermarkt and subject to change.
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