Liverpool paid over the odds for midfielder Naby Keita, according to the CIES Football Observatory.

An analysis of this summer’s transfers revealed that the Reds paid €8.7million more than Keita’s “fair price”, calculated at €61.3million.

However, that was a far cry from the biggest overspend in the CIES list. That honour was reserved for Chelsea‘s €80milllion capture of goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga from Athletic Club Bilbao, a price that the observatory said was €44.7million more than the player’s value, pegged at €35.3million.

In comparison, Keita’s transfer barely cracked the top 20, coming in at N0 19 in CIES’ most over-priced players list.

The top five included Manchester City paying Leicester City a reported €85million for Riyad Mahrez, Paris Saint-Germain‘s €37million signing of Thilo Kehrer from Schalke, Everton spending €31.8million to lure defender Yerry Mina from Barcelona, and Napoli landing Alex Meret from Udinese for €25million.

On the other hand, Liverpool’s €72.5million signing of goalkeeper Alisson Becker from Roma was viewed as a good value-for-money deal, given CIES’ fair price for the Brazilian is €79.3million.

Real Madrid topped that list with their signing of Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois for a relatively paltry €40million, with the Belgian being valued at €62.6million. Of course, that Courtois was in the final year of his contract paid a part in Los Blancos pulling off the below-value signing.

Liverpool made the top five in that list by signing Fabinho from Monaco for €55million, with the midfielder being valued at €73.8million. The Fabinho signing came in behind Madrid’s capture of Courtois, Atletico Madrid getting midfielder Rodri from Valencia for just €25million, and Roma signing Bryan Cristante from Atalanta.

The top five was rounded out by the €35million transfer of defender Clement Lenglet from Sevilla to Barcelona. Coupled with the extra value they got from the sale of Mina, the La Liga champions certainly did good business in replenishing their centre-back corps.