Chelsea may have money to burn but the Londoners are the masters of the bargain transfer if a new study of football's most valuable players is to be believed.
The list compiled by the CIES Football Observatory has placed a transfer value on the heads of the top 100 players in Europe, and the 11 Chelsea players who feature on it are now worth £162m more than the £216.5m the Blues paid for them, according to website Transfer League.
Three Chelsea stars appear in the top ten and two of them, Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas, arrived at the Bridge in the summer. Chelsea forked out £32m on Costa, but he is now valued ay £66.5m, while Fabregas, who cost £20m, is said to be worth £48.5m.
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But the jewel in Chelsea's crown appears to be Eden Hazard, who arrived in 2012 from Lille in a deal worth £32m, but is now valued at £77.5m, which would make him the third most expensive player in the world behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Those two stars are far and away the most valuable, with Messi said to be worth £172m and Ronaldo, lagging a surprising distance behind, £104m.
Only two of the Chelsea side in the list are worth less than when they arrived at Stamford Bridge. Willian is worth just £26m, despite Chelsea buying him for £30m in 2013, while Ramires is now only worth £16.5m as opposed to the £18.5m the club paid for him in 2010.
Elsewhere on the list, Arsene Wenger will take satisfaction in the fact that his two headline signings this summer have both rocketed in value. Alexis Sanchez, who joined in the summer for £35m is now worth £47.5m, while Danny Welbeck, sold by Manchester United for £16m, is valued at £23.5m. The Gunners would also make a modest profit on Calum Chambers, who is now rated as an £18m player, having cost £16m.
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