It is no surprise that the market value of several Heart of Midlothian players has increased over the course of the season.
Performances that take an outsider to the top of the league, and five points clear with nine matches to go, will always attract the attention of other clubs.
Summer signings Claudio Braga, Alexandros Kyziridis and Tomas Magnusson have seen their values increase by around 10 times. This is, of course, largely down to their performances this season, particularly because they have been among the goals.
However, other more subtle factors go into determining the value of football players at Transfermarkt.
The website does not claim to be an authority but has a growing reputation in the game for its calculations, cited in recent financial accounts of clubs such as Barcelona and Lyon.
“It is done manually. We do not use AI, a system or a spreadsheet; we do it manually,” Transfermarkt’s UK content manager Euan Robertson told Hearts Standard. “A lot of opinion goes into it, as well as many references.
“We look at things like a player's age, performance and form. We also look at potential markets for those players.”
Another important factor is whether the club have a history of selling.
Hearts do not in recent times. Scottish Premiership rivals Aberdeen, Motherwell and Hibernian, by contrast, do.
In previous seasons, that would lower the values of Hearts’ prize assets. Now, with Jamestown Analytics on board, the club's player-trading model has changed, evidenced last summer when player of the year James Penrice was sold to AEK Athens.
“We have a massive database. So for Hearts, for example, we look at their record sales,” continued Robertson. “They have only sold 16 players in history for over €1 million. Only three of those have been since 2020: Aaron Hickey, Alex Cochrane and James Penrice.
“We look at whether a club has a history of selling players and which markets they sell to. We also look at the league in general and we have good relationships with clubs and agents.
"Hearts is a unique case because they are now linked with Jamestown and Tony Bloom, their business model is going to change. There is going to be a much larger onus on having to sell players for large profits.
“If you look at their squad, it is not currently filled with players who have that potential. The age composition of the squad is quite high. There are a lot of older players who do not have much resale value.”
That is slowly changing. Hearts have nine players valued at €1m (£866,350) or more on Transfermarkt. One of those, Marc Leonard, is on loan.
The others are: Braga, Kyziridis, Lawrence Shankland, Beni Baningime, Ageu, Michael Steinwender, Cammy Devlin and Islam Chesnokov.
Fifteen-goal Braga can command the largest transfer fee, according to the database, with a market value of €6m (£5.2m). That’s up from €500,000 (£433k) when he was last playing in Norway with Aalesunds, and he signed for Hearts for a fee in that region. It will possibly increase again when values are reassessed in May.
Next is Kyziridis at €3.5m (£3m) up from £375,000 (£325k) when he was in Slovakia with Zemplin Michalovce. The Greek was a free transfer and, like Braga, will likely have teams enquiring about him this summer.
"In terms of Braga, he has 21 goal contributions in 35 games, which is exceptional," said Robertson.
"We look at players of his same age profile putting up similar numbers across other leagues. We also look at the Scottish league and the transfers going out for those types of players. Kieran Bowie went [from Hibs to Vernoa] for about €6m, so we take that into consideration.
"Hearts will likely look to flip him. Realistically, the player will probably want to move on as well. He is the prized asset of Hearts, along with Kyziridis. We have to bring the valuation in line with what Hearts are doing.
"It is mainly performance-based, but age comes into it, too. He has a two-year window where he can go for a decent fee. When he gets to 28 or 29, he will not have that same value, so Hearts will look to flip him either this summer or next summer."
Shankland is third on the list with a value of €2.8m (£2.4m) and while that has risen this season, it has fallen from a high of €4m (£3.5m) at the end of the 2023/24 season. However, that is mainly due to his age.
Beni Baningime, next on the list, has seen his value stay steady at €1.5m (£1.3m) this season, while record signing Ageu’s has fallen from €1.5m to €1.3m (£1.1m) due to sitting out much of the season through injury.
After that is a trio of players tied on €1.2m (£1m): Steinwender, Devlin and Chesnokov. Leonard is valued at €1m, up from €700,000 when he signed on loan from Birmingham City in January.
It is no surprise that Braga’s value is the highest in the Hearts squad and, at 26 years old and with plenty of sell-on potential, he is now the joint-highest valued Hearts player ever. That’s along with current team-mate Craig Gordon.
However, at 43 years of age, it is no surprise that the Scotland international's current value is the joint-lowest at the club, along with fellow goalkeeper Ryan Fulton. Gordon was valued at €6m ahead of his £9m move to Sunderland in 2007 and that increased to a career high of £10m during his time on Wearside.
Read more
- Hearts reveal star to return v Kilmarnock and key duo v Dundee in 8-man injury update
- The Derek McInnes and Hearts approach to points total to win the Premiership
- The insider view on Hearts star Claudio Braga and what he is like as a team-mate
Another notable rise in the current Hearts team is the value of Tomas Magnusson, which has rocketed from €50,000 last summer when he was playing with Valur Reykjavik in Iceland to €500,000 now.
A player entering his thirties will usually see a drop in their value, which is the case for Blair Spittal and Frankie Kent this season. Both haven't had as much game time as they would like this season.
Bucking that trend are Shankland and centre-back pairing Craig Halkett and Stuart Findlay who, despite all turning 31 this year, have all seen a slight increase in their Transfermarkt value.
Robertson explains why: “When players get older, generally we never put them up, but we've put up those three, and that's just due to how well Hearts are doing.
"In general, Hearts will have more interest in players if they win the league, but I don't think players like Halkett, Findlay or Shankland are ever going to be sold, really. There's not really a market for them unless there's a Championship club coming in, but I don't think they leave at the moment.
“But then there are players who will go on the radar and will be in for bigger updates at the end of the season.
"Look at someone like Magnusson, for example. He's one of the younger players who could probably be a market for him, given his age at 23. If he can get into the Iceland set-up, for example.”
Regardless of where Hearts finish at the end of the season, there will be clubs interested in their players. Some are already being monitored.
The club has entered a new era with Jamestown Analytics and things are heading in the right direction barely a year into it.
