Scottish Premiership market values – O’Riley becomes league MVP, Silva falls at Rangers

​

305 players updated 

Transfermarkt has now updated the market values of more than 300 players in the Scottish Premiership and it was more good news for Celtic. Off the back of an impressive domestic double for Brendan Rodgers’ side, the Parkhead club have seen their squad market value increase 7.4 percent to a total of €125 million and can lay claim to a new league MVP in the form of Matt O’Riley, whose market value has now risen to €20 million. Which now makes the Danish midfielder the most valuable player to have ever played in the Scottish top-flight. 

In stark contrast, Glasgow rivals Rangers have had another difficult transition season. Following the departure of head coach Michael Beale, his successor Philippe Clement did well to steady the ship and win the League Cup but ultimately coming up short in the Premiership and Scottish Cup. With a squad of ageing stars, the Ibrox club have seen their squad market value drop by 5.2 percent to €103.2m. 

O’Riley overtakes Kyogo, Shankland and Miovski continue rise 

Indeed, much of Celtic’s success this season was down to the remarkable performances of O’Riley in the middle of the pitch. As such, O’Riley’s market value has increased by €7m to €20m. “With 19 goals and 18 assists in 49 games across all competitions, O’Riley was unquestionably the best player in Scotland this season,” said UK Lead Content Manager Stefan Bienkowski. “Following serious interest from Atletico Madrid in January, Celtic are expecting a lot of interest in O’Riley this summer and would likely look to sell him for a fee in the range of what they got for Kieran Tierney (€27m to Arsenal) or Jota (€29.1m to Al-Ittihad).” O’Riley joins no less than nine Celtic players that saw their market values increase, with Greg Taylor (+€500k to €7.5m), Alistair Johnston (+€500k to €8.5m), Adam Idah (+€700k to €3.5m) and Cameron Carter-Vickers (+€1m to €14m) all featuring in the top 10 biggest market value increases in this update. 

Despite Rangers’ overall squad value decreasing, there were a number of players at the Ibrox club that saw their market values increase in this update. No less than five players saw their market value increase by €500k in the form of Ross McCausland (new market value: €1.5m), John Souttar (€3m), Rabbi Matondo (€3m), Mohamed Diomandé (€3m), Cyriel Dessers (€4.5m) and Abdallah Sima (€7.5m), while right-back Dujon Sterling saw his market value increase by €1m to €4m. 

While Celtic and Rangers may dominate the silverware in Scotland, they haven’t dominated the good news in this market value update. Huge upgrades to Hearts and Aberdeen star strikers Lawrence Shankland and Bojan Miovski saw both players increase their market values by €1.5m each. Which now means both players now have market values of €4m. “Away from the title race, the Scottish Premiership has been kept entertained by the consistent goalscoring of both Shankland and Miovski,” noted Bienkowski. “Both forwards have enjoyed good seasons and in Shankland’s case he’ll likely get an opportunity to showcase his talents to an international audience at this season’s Euro 2024 with the Scotland national team.” Similarly, impressive performances from the likes of Hearts midfielder Beni Baningime (+€600k to €1.5m), Kilmarnock winger Danny Armstrong (+€500k to €1.5m) and Hibernian forward Élie Youan (+€300k to €2m) all earned big upgrades, while young prospects like Connor Barron of Aberdeen (+€400k to €1m), Kilmarnock midfielder David Watson (+€600k to €1m) and in particular Motherwell star Lennon Miller (+€500k to €1.5m) point to a number of players that are doing extremely well despite their young age. 

Downgrades aplenty as Celtic and Rangers make big changes 

As previously noted, Rangers are in the midst of a squad rebuild and that has led to a number of players simply reaching an age that requires them to lose market value or some squad players that are no longer considered by manager Clement. For example, eight of the top biggest downgrades were for Rangers players that were either 30 years of age or older – such as James Tavernier (-€500k to €6.5m), Borna Barisic (-€1m to €3.4m), Connor Goldson (-€1m to €5m) and John Lundstram (-€1.5m to €5m) – or players that had simply not performed this season, like Kemar Roofe (-€1m to €1m) Tom Lawrence (-€1m to €2.5m) or most notably on-loan talent Fábio Silva (-€2m to €11m). 

However, Rangers weren’t alone in their efforts to rebuild their squad. Rodgers has also had to make some big changes at Celtic after inheriting Ange Postecoglou’s squad and as a result a number of his own squad have seen their values drop due to older age – such as James Forrest (-€500k to €1m), Callum McGregor (-€500k to €8.5m) and Joe Hart(-€500k to €500k) – or players that are now simply surplus to requirement, like Odin Thiago Holm (-€500k to €2m) or Maik Nawrocki (-€500k to €2.5m). 

How Transfermarkt market values work

The Transfermarkt market values are calculated, taking into account various pricing models. A major factor is the Transfermarkt community, whose members discuss and evaluate player market values in detail. In general, the Transfermarkt market values are not to be equated with transfer fees. 

The goal is not to predict a price but an expected value of a player in a free market. Both individual transfer modalities and situational conditions are relevant in determining market values. Examples of this are listed below. Transfermarkt does not use an algorithm (you can find the detailed market value definition here).