What would top soccer players be worth in Adam Smith’s barter economy?

Luis Suarez: Lada

Luis Suarez is the rare player who gets assists without sacrificing his deadly shooting. He’s a bit of a tactical Swiss Army knife. Yes, many fans find him annoying because of the biting and the flopping. That doesn’t mean he isn’t one of the top 10 players in the world.

Which is why he should be traded for Lada. Lada is Russia’s best selling car brand. In some ways, it’s the antithesis of Suarez. While he is fashionable and relevant, Lada rarely changes its car designs. Where Suarez’s style is fast and attacking, Lada doesn’t produce a single high-performance car.

But both the company and the man work hard and don’t mind playing second fiddle. Lada’s parent company even manufactures cars for other car makers. That’s a team player if ever I saw one.

Granted, Suarez isn’t worth quite as much as Lada. While he was last transferred for about $94 million, Lada’s corporate entity AvtoVAZ has a market capitalization of roughly $700 million. Suarez isn’t even worth a controlling interest in the Russian auto group. But we’re dealing with items, not cash, remember. This is a barter, where value is determined by how much something is wanted, not arbitrary monetary valuations.

Interestingly, Lada has been involved in barters before. There are stories that Coca-Cola used to trade drinks for cars with the then Soviet-owned Lada, then resell them in the UK. Surely somebody at the company knows a thing or two about this kind of exchange.

Parent company Groupe Renault could find use for Suarez. Like we said, he’s a man of many skills. He could easily slide into a management role, either in the office or at one of the company’s hundreds of plants.