Maresca behind drive
Man City set to hijack Arsenal’s deal for Monga – where will he rank for most costly 16 year olds?
©IMAGO
In April 2025, Jeremy Monga made his Premier League debut aged 15 years and 271 days for Leicester City against Newcastle United, becoming the second-youngest player in Premier League history. He is now third behind Arsenal’s Max Dowman and Ethan Nwaneri. For much of this summer, it looked like Monga would now join those two youngsters at the Emirates. Arsenal had been in club-to-club talks with Leicester, now of League One, and were confident they had convinced the player to make the move.
Market Value
J. Monga
Left Winger
€15.00m
However, after feeling the Foxes valuation was too high, they stalled, and Manchester City have now swooped in to hijack the deal. The Sky Blues are working to complete a deal for Monga for a fee in the region of €11.7 million. Newly-appointed City manager Enzo Maresca, who knew Monga from his time in charge at the King Power in the 2023/24 season, is reportedly behind the club’s drive for the player. But where will this deal rank Monga in terms of the most expensive 16 year olds in the history of the game?
Most expensive 16 year old players ever
The most expensive ever signing for a 16-year-old player was when Barcelona paid Las Palmas €23m for midfielder Pedri in 2019. Given that the Spaniard’s market value now stands at €150m, it’s safe to say this was a fantastic piece of business for Barca. Second on the list is Pietro Pellegri, who Monaco paid Genoa €21m for in 2018. Pellegri, now 25, has a market value of just €500k. Third goes to Willem Geubbels, who Monaco also bought in 2019 – this time for €20m from Lyon. He is now worth €5m.
Monga's pending transfer to Man City would now rank the young Englishman fourth on the list at around €12m – if we round up to the nearest million. He would be the most expensive 16 year old ever acquired by an English club, beating the €11m Arsenal paid Southampton for Theo Walcott all the way back in 2006. That deal is fifth on the list.
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