How much would the stars of the past be worth if they played today? AI has the answer

D ebates about who is the greatest player of all time or whether a player's value is real or inflated will always be open to question. Even if an official notary were to come along and expose the truth, there will always be someone who perceives a certain bias in naming a particular player or price.

Even so, and on the basis that being able to express an opinion on anything freely and with respect is always to be celebrated, at MARCA we wanted to ask someone, or rather something, impartial. We turned to artificial intelligence, specifically Grok, so that, based on its huge database accumulated in a matter of seconds, it could analyze a curious question: How much would Pele and Maradona cost today? But before getting to that point, we will not start the house from the roof.

First of all, let's ask the AI what is, for it, the top 10 best soccer players in history: While it admits that from the top 6 there could be some kind of nuance in terms of choice, where there is no doubt is in the top 5. Leo Messi, Pele, Maradona, Cruyff and Cristiano Ronaldo.

From here, the rest of the names arrive, which, according to Grok, has been drawn up " According to the broadest consensus among historians, former players, journalists and advanced statistics (2025). It is subjective, but it is well-founded," he explains

The rest: Alfredo Di Stefano; Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo Nazario, Franz Beckenbauer and, to round off the top 10, he points to two names George Best / Garrincha

"These names appear in 95% of serious lists (France Football, The Guardian, FourFourTwo, IFFHS, etc.)," says the AI. Then, it lists another series of names, among which it highlights "as a block Xavi-Iniesta-Busquets if collective influence is valued."

The value, according to AI

With the top 10 already in our hands, it's time to press the button once again and, by magic, Grok exposes how much they could cost taking into account a thousand and one statistical sections , such as goals, trophies, offensive or defensive contributions if necessary, impact in general terms...

This is even better when comparing these figures with today's values, which are the ones taken into account to know how much the current stars are worth, such as Mbappe, Lamine or Haaland.

This was the question we asked Grok and this was his answer: "From this top 10 and based on their statistics of goals, trophies and contributions in their prime, make me the top 10 of these players according to the market value they would have in European leagues today."

This has been the methodology used by the AI: prime statistics (goals ~400-1200, trophies 3-8 majors , contributions such as leadership/innovation), modern comparables (Yamal 400M€, Mbappe/Bellingham 180M€ per Transfermarkt 2025 and football inflation (not only CPI, but also % of league/TV revenues). Sources : GOAL, Transfermarkt, Reddit analysis, Quora experts.

However, X's own AI points out the subjectivity of the analysis, although it does agree that it is well-founded: " Pele/Cruyff lead by era of 'rarity' (less global competition); Messi/CR7 by modern stats. Defenders like Beckenbauer drop by position (less value in current market).