Udinese goalkeeper Maduka Okoye has been ranked as the eighth most expensive goalkeeper eligible to represent an African national team by football statistics and transfer market website Transfermarkt.
A player’s valuation depends on several factors including length of contract, age and form for club and country.
Okoye has a market value of 7.5 million euros (approximately N13.3 billion in Nigerian currency), making him the second most expensive Nigerian goalkeeper, behind SC Freiburg’s Noah Atubolu.
Although Okoye has not figured for the Super Eagles for close to three years, the former Watford man has seen his stock rise, thanks to his outstanding performances for Udinese, posting eight clean sheets across 31 games in the Italian top flight since making his debut.
Prior to the latest update on October 18, Okoye was valued at four million euros in June 2024.
It is believed his value has almost doubled because Udinese tied him down to a new contract, until the end of the 2027-2028 season amid interest from Inter Milan, plus the fact that he’s one of the young goalkeepers in the Serie A.
As you might expect, Manchester United star André Onana is the most valuable African goalkeeper, with a valuation of €35m, seventeen million euros more than the second-placed Guillaume Restes, while Atubolu is third.
Ouagadougou-born Nantes shot stopper Alban Lafont and Yassine Bounou, one of the biggest stars in the Morocco national team, are both valued at €9m each, making them the joint fourth most valuable African goalies.
Senegalese duo Yehvann Diouf and Edouard Mendy are joint sixth with a valuation of eight million euros each.
Top eight most valuable African goalkeepers
1) André Onana – Manchester United/Cameroon – €35m
2) Guillaume Restes – Toulouse/Ivory Coast – €18m
3) Noah Atubolu – SC Freiburg/Nigeria – €10.00m
4) Alban Lafont – Nantes/ Burkina Faso- €9m
Bono – Al Hilal/ Morocco – €9m
6) Yehvann Diouf – Reims/ Senegal – €8m
Edouard Mendy – Al-Ahli/ Senegal – €8m
8) Maduka Okoye – Udinese/Nigeria – €7.5m
Ifeanyi Emmanuel
