Now that you've clicked, the subtitle to this article is "How we know transfermarkt has zero knowledge about football in Ireland". If you've spent any time researching your club's rumoured new signing, the chances are that you've visited transfermarkt. The German-based website has extensive records of results, scorers and, as the name suggests, transfers throughout the world. One of its main distinguishing features is that it assigns a transfer value to each player.
You can see their highest valued players in the Champions League here with Kylian Mbappe taking top spot with an estimated value of £180m (ahead of Neymar and Messi).
They may assign a value to every player in the CL, and even every player in England but that certainly isn't the case for Ireland. In fact, most of the league's players aren't given a value. However some are, and here we have compiled the 24 players currently with LOI clubs have transfermarkt valuations of over €125,000.
1= Damien Delaney (Waterford) - €1,000,000
The ex-international had a horrid time with Cork last year and had Waterford have had an up and down start to 2019. Is he worth a million euro on the transfer market? It's hard for us to say...
1= Jack Byrne (Shamrock Rovers) - €1,000,000
No one can deny Jack Byrne is a talented footballer. Let's see if he can produce here for Shamrock Rovers
3 Alan Bennett (Cork City) - €400,000
Alan Bennett has had a great career but can he be rated as Cork's best player when he can't play twice a week?
4 Sean Murray (Dundalk) - €350,000
The midfielder signing for Dundalk was a bit of a coup given his background.
5 Graham Cummins (Cork City)- €325,000
The striker set started 2018 like he was the best striker in the league. He didn't finish strongly and has struggled to get in the Cork starting XI so far in 2019
6 Alan Mannus (Shamrock Rovers) - €300,000
The Northern Ireland keeper didn't cost Rovers €300k when he signed in the middle of last season but he probably is the best keeper in the league since his return.
7= Sean Kavanagh (Shamrock Rovers) - €250,000
A solid player for Rovers on the left, either at left back or on the wing
7= Shane O'Connor (Cobh Ramblers) - €250,000
Since returning to Ireland from Ipswich in 2012, O'Connor has played for Cork City, Shamrock Rovers, Portadown, Limerick, Cobh Ramblers, Waterford, Longford Town and back to Cobh. Never spending more than a year with one club. Transfermarkt think there are only 6 more valuable players in the LOI.
9= Chris Forrester (St Patrick's Athletic) - €200,000
Aberdeen spent about this on the midfielder last summer when he left Peterborough but he's back with St Pats now looking for some stability in his life. It's considerably less than the €17 million valuation put on him by sometime-pundit Pat Dolan during his first spell with Pats.
9= Ronan Murray (Sligo Rovers) - €200,000
The man deemed surplus to requirements at the champions Dundalk was injured in pre-season with new club Sligo Rovers.
9= Robbie Williams (Limerick) - €200,000
A big market value for a big defender.
9= Paul Keegan (Bray Wanderers) - €200,000
Another who's had a great career and maybe at his peak, this price tag would have represented value. Not now though.
9= Ciaran Kilduff (Shelbourne) - €200,000
He may be the best striker in the First Division, but Kilduff's best spell here has come as back up to David McMillan for Dundalk.
14= Karolis Chvedukas (Waterford) - €175,000
The Lithuanian midfielder struggled to break into the Dundalk team last year and has missed the start of the Waterford season so far in 2019 through injury.
14= Daryl Fordyce (Sligo Rovers) - €175,000
Another highly valued attacker for Sligo should mean they score plenty of goals this year, right?
14= Romeo Parkes (Sligo Rovers) - €175,000
That's 3 Sligo forwards now.
14= Aaron McCarey (Dundalk) - €175,000
Dundalk's back up keeper is the second highest rated keeper in the league.
14= Aaron Barry (Bohemians, on loan from Cork City) - €175,000
The ex-Derry captain isn't wanted by Cork but is still highly rated here.
19= Brendan Clarke (St Patrick's Athletic) - €150,000
Perhaps they're impressed by Clarke keeping three clean sheets to open the season?
19= Dante Leverock (Sligo Rovers) - €150,000
No club has more players on this list that Sligo, and they're all new signings for Liam Buckley
19= Danny Furlong (Wexford FC) - €150,000
Prolific in the First Division, Furlong didn't really reproduce that in his short spells in the top tier.
22= Barry Murphy (St Patrick's Athletic) - €125,000
Another backup keeper for the list.
22= Rhys McCabe (St Patrick's Athletic) - €125,000
The Scottish midfielder has played in the SPFL and Leagues One and Two in England.
22= Joe McKee (Dundalk, on loan from Falkirk) - €125,000
Dundalk signed him in an emergency when Robbie Benson and Patrick McEleney went down injured on the opening night. Maybe he cost them €125,000?
So that's the lot of them. No place for great players like Michael Duffy, Chris Shields, Pat Hoban, Aaron McEneff etc. No place for rising stars like Dylan Watts, Jamie Lennon or Conor McCarthy. I think it's safe to say that transfermarkt probably isn't the best place to look if you want to know who the best players in the LOI are.
SEE ALSO: 'It's A Sad And Serious Situation' - Inadequate Scouting System Exposes Ireland's Issue
