You also have clubs in Scotland scouting academy players from Premier League 2 who, depending on the club, could have high wage demands. Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish was quoted a couple of years ago saying that the average salary in Elite academies was around £256,000.

Anecdotally, the average standard of our league is roughly equivalent to League One, so does it really make sense to be doing most of our shopping in a market with superior finances? Clearly the large crowds and European revenue allow Celtic and Rangers to compete; both have recruited centre backs from a Top 5 league this summer, Celtic have previously acquired sought after talents like Moussa Dembele and Odsonne Eduoard and Rangers tempted Joe Aribo over a number Championship of suitors. But for the rest of the clubs in the league it may be beneficial to look beyond our neighbour for talent. But where to start?

If money is a concern for wages and transfer fees then it follows that clubs may not have a particularly large scouting network. They’ll need to use their resources effectively and a good way to do that is using data and video to draw up a shortlist of potential signings. Those who work in recruitment will be aware of the existence of tools such as WyScout, but the first challenge will be what leagues to look at to ensure the right calibre of player is targeted. If the quality of the league is too weak signings could be substandard and if the league has strong finances then targets may be unattainable. Those in charge may not have an idea of these aspects of the more obscure leagues but they could quickly narrow down their search parameters by using a proxy for the strength of a league and the finances of teams in those leagues.

The method I’m proposing is referencing ELO ratings from ClubElo.com against the average player values from Transfermarkt. The full methodology of ELO is on the website, but it is essentially a results-driven rating system which covers all the major European leagues as well as the two continental competitions and is thought to be more accurate representation of league quality than the UEFA coefficients.

I’ve removed any league where I think players may be out of reach for most Premiership clubs due to league strength, TV money and European places. Clearly the Scandinavian leagues, Romania, Czech Republic and the second tiers in France and Italy appear to be a similar quality. Bulgaria, Hungary, Israel and Poland may also have opportunities, but we may need to tread more carefully. Crucially all these leagues have a lower average player value suggesting there could be value.