Ginger Pirlo is an experienced Football Index who has been tracking his journey on the platform.
If you're considering joining, his weekly column provides sound advice on what's currently making waves on FI and provides tips on the pitfalls that new players can fall into. Read on!
KING IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE KING!
We have a new King of the Index, as Jadon Sancho arises to take the crown from Neymar, and in some style too. He didn’t just sneak above the Brazilian in the highest price rankings - he absolutely smashed his way through and is now far and away the No.1 player.
It didn’t take much for this to happen either, as Sky Sports News were casually doing a live interview with Sky Germany and their reporter merely mentioned the obvious that Sancho was leaving in the summer and Man Utd were interested, yet this seemed to create a trading starter gun on the platform.
Players started ploughing in as he went from £8.60 to over £9 in rapid time, which considering the price, is an eye-watering amount of money thrown in for such a throwaway reason. It isn’t as if Man Utd had made an official bid - we learned nothing new in Sancho may be coming to the EPL but is now £9.30, all in a blink of an eye.
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The rise may have been boosted by the fact Hakim Ziyech had agreed to join Chelsea just hours earlier so traders put two and two together and assumed Chelsea were out of the running so all roads lead to Old Trafford. Maybe. I can’t say for sure, but it certainly caught me by surprise. FOMO is a powerful thing on Football Index.
WHO IS THE NEW SANCHO?
With the Royal crowning of an English teenager being the most expensive player on the Index, people quite rightly will be looking for the next Sancho. If I knew the answer I would a) buy as many shares as I could right now or b) attempt to name that player. If only I knew...
Youth is a strange thing. Most won’t be the next Sancho and some are more likely be the next James Vaughan. Who? Exactly. There’s a good chance some of these players without a picture (as they are under 18 and too young to have one) will not go on to be superstars but not knowing is why they are purchased. We just don’t know so speculate that they just might.
The Index is full of anticipation and hope. At times, the worst thing a player can do is actually play as anticipation moves closer to reality and it can bite. This is true with senior players who may be getting transferred or returning from injury, never mind highly-hyped youths who barely have any minutes under their belts.
Buy, hold and hope is all a trader can really do and see if you caught a good one early.
SHOW ME THE VALUE
Another question is are these U20 players value? This question has no factual answer as value is nothing but an opinion. In fact, the next time you see someone on Twitter giving it the big one regarding value in general and offering their opinion as fact, feel free to send them a disapproval emoji or two.
Value is an opinion. Not fact. One estate agent may value a house at £220k, the next may value it at £240k. The owner may end up selling it for £250k. Reason? Value is what someone is willing to pay for it. Nothing more. A pint of milk or loaf of bread costs what it does based on demand, and what people are willing to pay has driven that price.
There are underlying things, like how much something cost to make, so you need to sell at a higher price to make a profit in the real world. But with football players on our little stock market, this doesn’t exist. A player’s price is what it is right now because there are traders willing to pay at least 1p below it.
So, are youth players value at £4? Maybe. Are they value at £2? Maybe. Ask yourself if you’re willing to pay that price and do you think others are, too? Will they/you pay an even higher price in the future? Therein lies your answer.
You may end up being wrong and get burned with a loss or you may have nailed it and strike oil. Who knows, but isn’t that the point? We don’t really know. We speculate with every single buy or sell we make. Being good at judging that speculation is where you make your money.
Neymar Jr 
PSG 
