For the better part of a decade, at least one leading Premier League team has devoted thousands of hours and kilowatts of brain power to answering what sounds, on the surface, like a simple question: How do you judge what any one player is actually worth?
Every conceivable variable is taken into account, the tangible and the intangible, the objective and the subjective. In addition to thousands of data points breaking down each player’s performance and output, factors like their age, position, nationality, length of contract and commercial value are fed into the equation. So, too, are the buying power of their current club, and the cost of their peers and, adjusting for inflation, their predecessors.