Bundesliga to become a destination for Irish players?

**Noelys Guitar** · 11/06/2011, 10:24 PM

Makes sense in a lot of ways. Wages are on par with the Premiership average wage. The standard of football is good. Germany is a nice country to live in and the crowds and atmosphere at matches are excellent. Lets hope Shane Long's transfer goes through and is one of many for Irish players in the coming years.

**DannyInvincible** · 11/06/2011, 10:34 PM

I see Bayern have also been linked with Nicklas Bendtner. Jaysus, I'd weep if they went for him over our Shane.

Anyway, the language barrier is the obvious thing, but the fan-friendly Bundesliga is the best-supported league in Europe and German clubs seem to be very proactive when it comes to giving opportunities to their youth players. Long is 24, of course, but hopefully he could do well there. Is Long to be their replacement for Miroslav Klose then? If a deal does happen, that is. Those would be quite a pair of boots to fill. Would love to see a deal go through though and more of our players experiencing different brands of football around Europe.

**Philly** · 12/06/2011, 11:33 AM

Having moved to Germany only last July and experienced the Bundesliga, I'd be very confident of a few Irish players doing well here.

It's worth nothing Klose has scored only 4 league goals in the past 2 years for Bayern, which is a record I'm sure Shane could beat no bother!

**mark12345** · 12/06/2011, 11:51 AM

Love it, love it, love it. Long to Bayern would be great. And long may it continue, Irish players going to Germany or any other European country. Nothing against English football but it has ruined (taken the technical ability away from) many a young Irishman who went across the water due to the 100 mile an hour game in the EPL.

**Fixer82** · 12/06/2011, 12:47 PM

And also, German is one of the easier languages to pick up, Many words similar to English.

Hell if John Aldridge can speak Spanish in a Scouse accent Long can speak German in a Tipp accent!

**mypost** · 12/06/2011, 12:56 PM

It would be great to have Long there, but realistically Heynckes wouldn't seriously consider him, and Long would struggle to get his game there, even if he did. Bayern are stuffed already with attacking players and attacking midfielders, so it wouldn't work out for him.

**Murfinator** · 12/06/2011, 3:29 PM

The Bundesliga is really a fine example of a good spirited league. Grounds with great atmosphere, high goal totals, electric crowds and very exciting to watch. The league rarely has the same kind of off-field politics or nonsense you get in La Liga or the English Premiership stealing the spotlight so it'd be great to have our lads playing there. A very open league as well as we've seen in recent years teams like Hoffenheim and Wolfsburg come from nowhere and challenge from the title, its not just the old guard that rotate who wins like in other leagues.

A fun statistic is the last two world cups have had more players from the Bundesliga than any other league.

**peadar1987** · 12/06/2011, 3:35 PM

Originally Posted by Fixer82

And also, German is one of the easier languages to pick up, Many words similar to English.

Hell if John Aldridge can speak Spanish in a Scouse accent Long can speak German in a Tipp accent!

German, easy?!! Maybe you're just a genius, but the grammar does my head in!

And I think I'm one of the few people in the world who speak Dutch with a strong Irish accent. It's quite funny seeing people in shops try and place it!

**Predator** · 12/06/2011, 4:15 PM

Young Liam Boyce is out there isn't he? Anyone know how he's been finding it?

**DannyInvincible** · 12/06/2011, 4:36 PM

Originally Posted by Murfinator

A fun statistic is the last two world cups have had more players from the Bundesliga than any other league.

That's a surprising one alright. Do you know if there are lists classifying players by league anywhere?

Originally Posted by Predator

Young Liam Boyce is out there isn't he? Anyone know how he's been finding it?

I think he just hops on a plane and the pilot does the rest for him.

**AlaskaFox** · 12/06/2011, 5:29 PM

Originally Posted by DannyInvincible

That's a surprising one alright. Do you know if there are lists classifying players by league anywhere?

This is by the country where they play, so I assume the England entry has a few Championship players included. English leagues provided the most players the last two tournaments.

2010: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FI...yer_statistics
2006: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_FI...tion_by_league