Sheffield United: Ollie Arblaster's transfer worth according to AI | OneFootball

AI calculates the worth of Sheffield United star Ollie Arblaster

Key Takeaways

AI has become extremely advanced over the last couple of years, so it can even calculate the market value of the Championship's rising stars.

Young Sheffield United midfielder Ollie Arblaster has been a bright spark in a dismal period for the Blades, suffering relegation back to the Championship in 2023/24.

With Brighton reportedly sniffing around the hotshot on deadline day to replace the outgoing Billy Gilmour, it would be fair to suggest the Premier League side would've had to pay a pretty penny to convince Chris Wilder to part company with his starlet.

With that in mind, just how much does a sophisticated AI believe Arblaster is worth?

Ollie Arblaster's meteoric rise

This time last year, the youngster wasn't a recognized name in English football. Former Blades manager Paul Heckingbottom had decided to send the midfielder out on loan to the EFL, in the hope of Arblaster returning to Bramall Lane ready to push into the first team. Fortunately, this was one of the few things that would go right for United that season.

Joining Port Vale on a season-long loan, the 2004-born prospect made an instant impact, winning the club's Player of the Month in his opening month. After some impressive performances to boot, the Englishman was on the end of an injury which saw him stretchered off in the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup in December.

Arblaster's loan was cut short by his parent club, as Wilder cited first-team opportunities for his hottest young talent once he returned to fitness. He made his Premier League debut in March 2024, which was a month that also saw him sweep United's Player of the Month award.

At just 20 years old, the midfielder captained the Blades at Old Trafford. A remarkable feat for someone who'd been in League One just three months prior. Unfortunately, Sheffield United were relegated to the second tier, but Arblaster started the season strong. Naturally, clubs were sniffing around him on deadline day, but Wilder managed to keep hold of the youngster.

AI evaluates Arblaster's market value

Being a young English starlet, many would plaster the 20-year-old with an enormous price tag. A recent deal for a similar type of player from the same league reportedly set Tottenham Hotspur back around £30 million, when they signed Archie Gray from Leeds United.

Of course, Gray is much younger than Arblaster and has had a full season of Championship experience where he excelled. While the latter's Premier League experience will come into play, it would be hard to justify paying something around the fee previously mentioned for someone who has only made a handful of top-flight appearances.

The AI transfer evaluator on FootballTransfers agrees with this statement, as it used many different statistics to calculate roughly how much Arblaster is worth. The Blades Maestro's value has gradually increased over recent months, currently sitting at €9.2 million.

This is the highest the 20-year-old's market value has reached so far, increasing from €8.4 million last month. Whilst this might not be as high as expected, the trajectory of his value suggests it could rise to double what it is now, if he has a successful season.

How AI calculates player market values

As mentioned before, AI takes into account many different factors when evaluating the market value of football players. Estimated Transfer Values (ETV) are what the AI creates based on the statistics provided by SciSports.

According to the website, the key factors that are taken into account are age, position, performance, potential ability and recent playing time. All this coupled with experience, league strength and contract length allows the computer to come up with a fair estimation for each player.

Of course, this is just a rough estimation. Realistically, the club that owns the player can charge whatever fee they want to if they don't have to sell. So the difference between this estimated value and the actual fee for a player would be fairly substantial in most cases.