England's most valuable XI is now worth over £1 billion

Before Euro 2020 was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, England fans were cautiously optimistic about the Three Lions' chances of glory.

Gareth Southgate's squad have gone from strength to strength in the past few years and are now comfortably one of the best international sides on the planet.

What is more, England's squad is brimming with exciting young talent, from Trent Alexander-Arnold to Jadon Sancho.

So much so that the most valuable England starting XI is now worth over £1bn.

The latest biannual figures from the CIES Football Observatory have four of England's young starlets in the five most valuable players on the planet.

Trent Alexander-Arnold, Raheem Sterling, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford all feature, with France prodigy Kylian Mbappe taking top spot.

Below, we've used the data from CIES Football Observatory to create England's £1bn XI. It's a little unbalanced, as we've gone for the classic English formation of 4-4-2, but the numbers are still mind-boggling regardless.

GK - Jordan Pickford (£40m)

Sheffield United's Dean Henderson will be eyeing up Pickford's gloves in the near future, but for the moment, the Everton man is comfortably England's most valuable goalkeeper.

RB - Trent Alexander-Arnold (£152m)

Liverpool's creative right-back is the most valuable defender on the planet by some distance.

CB - Declan Rice (£57m)

Despite playing in midfield for West Ham of late, Rice's England future is surely as a centre-back. Joe Gomez's current valuation is surprisingly just under £40m.

CB - Harry Maguire (£52m)

Manchester United's captain is already England's key man in defence and is the seventh most valuable centre-back in the world.

LB - Ben Chilwell (£39m)

Already England's number one left-back, Chilwell's value is all but certainly going to keep increasing in the coming years.

RM - Jadon Sancho (£158m)

The best teenager on the planet and the third most valuable player. That's it, that's the analysis.

CM - Mason Mount (£91m)

The Chelsea man is currently the second most valuable midfielder in the world, just behind United's Bruno Fernandes - impressive stuff.

CM - Dele Alli (£69m)

The Spurs man is the 10th most valuable midfielder in the world right now, with James Maddison (£58m) the next highest on the list in 20th.

LM - Raheem Sterling (£173m)

The second most valuable player on the planet according to CIES, despite his average - by his own lofty standards - campaign with Manchester City.

ST - Harry Kane (£106m)

England's captain is the eighth most valuable forward in world football. Bizarrely, the 26-year-old is behind 29-year-old Antoine Griezmann...

ST - Marcus Rashford (£136m)

The fifth most valuable player on the planet caps off England's billion-pound XI and the wealth of options for Southgate in forward areas is seriously vast.

Total value: £1.073bn

You can't help but think this England squad have a decent chance of winning both Euro 2021 and the 2022 World Cup.