Our plan to have a fantasy team full of Irish players has been thwarted.
As we countdown to Euro 2016 in just over three weeks, Uefa has asked fans to try and put their own ultimate fantasy XI together from the 24 countries taking part next month.
As normal, you have a budget of €100 million with which to try to win the Euros but Irish fans are in for a bit of a surprise when it comes to selecting familiar faces from Martin O’Neill’s squad.
You can pick 15 players but there is a limit of three per country so we were only able to fit Seamus Coleman, Wes Hoolahan and Shane Long into the starting XI.
Our most valuable player remains Robbie Keane at €7.5 million euro, which isn’t too shabby, considering England’s Jamie Vardy is valued at €7 million.
But look at how cheap Super Johnny Walters is.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, unfortunately, is rated at €11 million, which is the steepest price on offer for any player from Group E at this summer’s Championships.
The midfield doesn’t look too bad either with Wes Hoolahan most highly valued at €6 million, as well as Robbie Brady.
Unfortunately, you then look at Belgium’s midfield, and your optimism withers.
Goalkeeper-wise we look to be in decent nick, with Darren Randolph the clear front-runner for a role between the sticks next month.
The West Ham man is valued at €4.5 million which is buttons compared to the Italy squad and their options with Gigi Buffon valued at €6 million.
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Bizarrely, it seems like Uefa could not think of enough Irish players, and decided to include some totally random names in the squad as well.
As they are only surnames, we can only guess who they may have been referring to here with (Daniel) Cleary and (Graham) Kavanagh included weirdly.
Jack Byrne also features so maybe someone at Uefa knows something we don’t.
Although it is good to see Richie Towell getting a mention, as well as Stephen Gleeson from Birmingham City.
The most expensive player on the entire roster is Poland’s Robert Lewandowski, who will set you back a cool €11.5 million if you want to add him to your team.
Kyle Lafferty at €7 million is Northern Ireland’s most expensive player, with Josh Magennis closest in value at €6 million.
Wales, of course, have Gareth Bale and he is worth a month’s wages at €10.5 million, while England’s most expensive player is Wayne Rooney at €9.5 million.
We’re not sure who put the England squad together, but someone was having a laugh including Stewart Downing at €4.5 million.
If you fancy having a go yourself, you can select your own Ultimate Euro 2016 XI here.
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