体坛英语新闻：Who are the most expensive players in the Copa America tournament?

SANTIAGO, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Off the pitch, many fans are wondering who are the most valuable players at the Copa America 2015 tournament in Chile, a great showcase of continental football.

To avoid unfair competition, the Argentinian genius Lionel Messi should be taken out of the equation as he is the best and most expensive footballer in the world, four times Ballon d'Or winner and holds all the titles available at club level with Barcelona.

Messi' s market worth is 136 million U.S. dollars according to Transfermarkt.

Now that Messi' s out of the way, that leaves the other Copa America superstars including Brazilian Neymar, the Colombians James Rodriguez and Radamel Falcao, the Argentinians Sergio Aguero, Angel Di Maria and Gonzalo Higuain and the Chileans Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal among others.

Neymar, who has just received a 4-match ban for his behavior on the pitch which means he is out for the rest of the tournament is the second most valuable player in tournament with an estimated value of 91 million U.S. dollars according to Cuban news agency Prensa Latina (PL).

At world level, the Brazilian star comes in at fourth place on the list behind Messi, Real Madrid' s Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo and Chelsea' s Belgian attacking midfielder Eden Hazard.

Returning to the Copa America, third place in the hierarchy of most expensive players on the market goes to Di Maria (73.67 million U.S. dollars) followed by James (68 million U.S. dollars) and in fifth place is Aguero (56.67 million U.S. dollars) according to PL.

Behind them, to end the top ten are the Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani (54.4 million U.S. dollars), Falcao (51 million U.S. dollars), Alexis Sanchez (51 million U.S. dollars), Vidal (47.6 million U.S. dollars) and Higuain (45.3 million U.S. dollars) in tenth place.

Logically the team with the highest market worth is Argentina as four players from the top ten are included in the South American side.

However the value of the players does not guarantee that they will go on to win the Copa America 2015 title. The trophy is desired by many teams from Argentina to Uruguay passing through Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and even Venezuela, Bolivia and Peru.