How Much Is Barcelona's Luis Suarez Worth Based on Form so Far This Season?

On form, Barcelona striker Luis Suarez ranks among the very best players in world football. But what does that mean for his monetary value?

Before we get to that, a disclaimer: At this point in time, we have no reason to believe Barcelona would sell Suarez for any price. This is strictly an exercise in hypothetical thinking.

That said, when examining any player's worth, we have to take into account features such as age, reputation and potential for future greatness. Despite questions over his character and a limited amount of time left for Suarez to enjoy his prime, the Uruguayan is undoubtedly worth several tens of millions of euros.

Just look at the stats. This season, Suarez has found the net 13 times in 14 Liga matches, adding five more in five UEFA Champions League appearances. At the recently completed FIFA Club World Cup, which Barcelona won, Suarez scored five goals in two games, including a brace in the 3-0 win over River Plate in the final.

This is coming after Barca's treble-winning 2014-15 season, during which Suarez scored 16 Liga goals and seven more in the Champions League. In other words, Suarez is scoring goals while Barcelona are winning trophies. That's a combination that keeps players, coaches and fans happy—and keeps the money rolling into Suarez's bank account.

When Bleacher Report's Jason Pettigrove assessed Suarez's value in early 2015, he pointed out the Uruguayan's importance to Barcelona along with fellow attackers Lionel Messi and Neymar. Suarez had just begun to find his best form for the Blaugrana, and Barca were on their way to winning three major trophies. Pettigrove wrote:

We are seeing as the season progresses that [the members of] the triple threat are beginning to understand the various facets of each others' game, and their movement and interplay are becoming more complementary on a game-by-game basis. This aspect of Suarez's employment shouldn't be overlooked, either.

Take Neymar as an example also and recall the player he was 12 months ago to the one which we are seeing presently. There's no comparison. So when we talk about value for money and given all of the variables involved, the only thing that's really missing from his game is a few more additions in the goals column.

Once they start to flow, and they will, then this will be a non-argument.

The goals have been flowing throughout this campaign, and Pettigrove's analysis rings true. Suarez's value to Barcelona is immense. His goals and assists totals are impressive, and his interplay with Messi and Neymar is at times unbelievable.

But could Barcelona recoup their investment in him if they were to place Suarez on the transfer market? There's no reason to think the club would actually sell him at this point in time, but let's imagine that's the case. To get a feel for Suarez's worth, let's look back on his move from Liverpool to Barca.

At the time of his transfer from Liverpool to Barcelona in July 2014, the deal was worth £75 million, per Louise Taylor at the Guardian. A month later, Barcelona vice-president Jordi Mestre said the Catalan club paid Liverpool £65 million, though he revealed Suarez's release clause was the originally reported figure of £75 million (h/t ESPN FC).

“When we thought about Luis Suarez and considered him we knew about his great qualities and figures (goals and assists) but we had our doubts in that we did not know whether he would adapt," Barcelona manager Luis Enrique recently said, per Jason Burt of the Daily Telegraph.

Enrique continued: “But I think we can say he is one of the best players we signed and it was a good decision to trust him. We paid a lot of money for him but he has shown great hunger to win trophies.”

Regardless of what the exact amount he cost was, it's safe to say Barcelona would only let go of Suarez for much more. Because of his excellent production this season, Suarez would command a gargantuan transfer fee on the open market.

But if we take his form into account, is he worth any more now than he was a year-and-a-half ago? Maybe not.

According to Transfermarkt, Suarez's market value stood at €90 million as of Nov. 22. By current exchange rates, that's about £66 million—very nearly the same figure Barcelona claim they paid for him in the summer of 2014.

So why wouldn't his value be any higher? After all, Suarez has been in amazing form this season, proving his on-pitch value to Barcelona repeatedly.

One factor that could be working against him is his age. In January, the Uruguayan striker will turn 29, meaning he's either at or near his prime. Footballers generally peak in their late 20s and begin to regress physically in their 30s, so Suarez is very close to the age at which clubs can expect him to start declining.

By contrast, a club could reasonably expect a 21- or 22-year-old player with stats similar to Suarez's could improve physically for several more years before reaching his peak. That player would thus hold more potential value than Suarez.

Another factor that could work against Suarez is his reputation. His sale in the summer of 2014 came shortly after a biting incident at the FIFA World Cup. It was not the first time he'd been involved in such an episode, and many interested clubs could have concerns about his character.

Those concerns could still linger, though for his part, Suarez appears to be taking steps to make sure nothing like that ever happens again. "I say to fans, 'don't worry, because I won't do that anymore'," Suarez said in 2014, relayed ESPN FC. "I spoke to my psychologist, and he said I had to face it and say sorry. I did—now I would rather focus on the present, which is Barcelona."

We can only take Suarez at his word, but doing so might mean a markdown on the merchandise, so to speak.

Yet it would be a mistake to discount Suarez's value. At 28—soon to be 29—he's at the top of his game, and at this point in his career, he's a nightmare for even the world's top defenders. Any club with the requisite resources would be interested in signing a player of Suarez's abilities regardless of how much he costs or how much of a risk he might be. Simply put, Suarez's goals can help a team win.

Not that Barcelona are even remotely interested in selling, but if they were, the Catalans could expect to at least recoup what they paid for Suarez in 2014.