Purpose The purpose of this research is to investigate whether crowd valuations have become a good estimator of public information for transfer fees (TF) in line with an active and efficient market. Design/methodology/approach To do this, we explain market values (MVs) and TF of football players from five major leagues over 5 years (2020–2024), including personal characteristics, performance and popularity variables and bargaining power when transferring football players. Findings The article shows that negotiation variables significantly influence the final transfer fee during the bargaining process and are also collected by crowd valuations after the transfer. We also found that MVs at the beginning of the year, in which a football player is transferred, are a better indicator of the TF finally paid than the previous TF. Originality/value This study marks a pioneering effort in presenting evidence on how crowd valuations capture the bargaining process of prices, aligning with the theory of market efficiency. These findings hold significant importance for accounting regulators, the Union of European Football Associations and football club managers. They shed light on the potential and challenges associated with utilizing football player crowd valuations as a complementary source of information in regular financial reports of football clubs regarding player transfer prices.
Martín et al. (Wed,) studied this question.