The national debt figures of some of the world’s largest economies are typically so immense that it can be virtually impossible to comprehend the amount. A recent study from Compare The Market has put some of these numbers into perspective, this is how many times the top five countries with the highest national debt would need to sell their most valuable football players to pay off what they owe. 

Christian Pulisic 

A Pennsylvania native, Christian Pulisic is the USA’s most valuable player, with a market value of $70,200,00 ($70.2 million). Having made a move to Chelsea in January 2019, he’s also the most expensive American player of all time. But how many times would this star player have to be sold to clear the USA’s debt? The USA has the largest amount of national debt in the world, which currently stands at $22,115,526,000,000 or $22.1 trillion. In order to pay off this staggering amount, Pulisic would need to be sold an astonishing 315,036 times to clear the debt.

Harry Kane

Harry Kane is one of the best-known strikers in the world of football and currently plays for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. With a market value of $175,500,000 ($175.5 million), he’s also the most valuable player the UK has. However, the UK has the second largest national debt in the world, owing around $8,652,300,000,000 ($8.7 trillion). In order to wipe the slate clean and bring their debt down to zero, the UK would need to sell Kane 49,301 times over.

Virgil van Dijk

Dutch centre-back Virgil van Dijk plays for English Premier League club Liverpool and also captains the Netherlands national team. Currently the Premier League Player of the Year, van Dijk is valued at an impressive $87,750,000 ($87.8 million). The Netherlands has the third largest national debt in the world, at just over half of the UK’s debt – $4,586,963,000,000 ($4.6 trillion). If the Netherlands were to use their key football star to pay off their debt, they would need to sell van Dijk 52,273 times over to match the figure they owe.

Marco Verratti

A highly skilled player, Marco Verratti plays as central midfielder for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Italy national team. He’s the most valuable player that Italy has – Verratti is currently valued at $87,750,000 ($87.8 million). But given that Italy’s national debt sits at $2,642,949,350,000 ($2.6trillion), he would need to be sold 30,119 times over to pay off his country’s national debt.

Kylian Mbappe 

Kylian Mbappe plays forward for Paris Saint-Germain and the France national team. He’s an incredibly talented player that is widely considered by many to be one of the best players in the world and is France’s biggest asset in terms of football players, with a value of $234,000,000 ($234 million). While they owe considerably less than the USA, France’s national debt is still high at $2,602,930,000,000 ($2.6 trillion). If they were to sell Mbappe to pay off the debt, they’d need to do so 11,124 times over.