Spurs are well aware that their transfer policy has been the envy of much of the Premier League, including their rivals.
Tottenham‘s use of analytics in recruitment led to “massive, massive arguments” when Andre Villas-Boas was the club’s head coach in the summer of 2012.
According to Villas-Boas, he wanted Spurs to sign Joao Moutinho, but the Porto midfielder was far down the club’s data team’s list of targets — and much behind Mousa Dembele, who came out on top statistically.
Spurs signed Dembele but did not pursue Moutinho until it was too late, missing out on his signature by a minute after the deadline had passed.
“It emotionally drained me to the point where, here was a guy who, from the coach’s perspective, the data was not showing all that he represented.” He was a player who understood your leadership, your approach, and his adaptability to your style,” Villas-Boas remarked.
“We had massive, massive arguments with Moutinho at first because of this.” It was sad because we were about to put together a really powerful midfield.”
Villas-Boas used the tale to highlight the difficulties coaches may face as statistics and AI play a greater role in identifying transfer targets.
Spurs have been utilising analytics to drive recruitment decisions for well over a decade, but they are now emerging as one of the sharpest English clubs in the area — and Villas-Boas‘s replacement is more calm and confident about the practise.
“It’s hugely important,” Ange Postecoglou remarked in September when asked about data’s importance in the transfer market. “The world is constantly changing, especially in that space.” I went to school with a pen and paper, so it’s safe to say I’m not an expert.
“We employ a large number of people in that space… there aren’t many hidden gems anywhere.” Every club in the league is familiar with every player.”
Postecoglou has good cause to be confident in the Spurs‘ data utilisation. His starting XI, which guided the club achieve its greatest start to a League season since 1960-61, is made up of astute players who appeared undervalued in the market but have adapted to English football with astonishing speed.
Guglielmo Vicario (£17.2 million), Micky van de Ven (£43 million), Brennan Johnson (£47 million), Pape Sarr (£14.6 million), and Destiny Udogie (£15 million) are among the players signed with the assistance of data, and after a series of mixed years in the market, Tottenham’s recruitment has been difficult to fault for the past three summers.
Spurs outsource some of their data crunching to an external London-based company that specialises in sports intelligence, but they also have a number of in-house specialists who compile targets based on manager demands and pass recommendations on to the recruitment team.
Spurs, like other great teams, now has a shortlist of 10 to 15 players for each position, all of whom have remarkable underlying performance data.
When the club finally acquired a new technical director, Johan Lange (above), who started on November 1, the Dane’s track record with data at Aston Villa and other previous clubs was one of the main reasons he was selected.
Lange has taken the lead in continuing to rebuild the squad in Postecoglou’s image, with work on identifying January targets well started after the head coach urged Spurs to alter course by conducting business early in the winter window.
However, for Postecoglou, data is only one facet — albeit an important one — of recruitment, and the Australian is equally concerned with players’ personalities. “There’s so much out there, it [data] is an ever-expanding space and all top clubs realise it’s an important part of identification,” he said.
DATA IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF RECRUITMENT, BUT THERE ARE BITS THAT GO BEYOND THAT, LIKE A PLAYER’S CHARACTER
ANGE POSTECOGLOU
“But the most important thing is to know exactly what you’re looking for.” And for us, that means seeing them on our team, playing football.
“There are so many fantastic footballers, and sometimes it’s difficult to choose between them.” Sometimes it comes down to how well they fit into the style we want to play, and sometimes it comes down to what kind of person they are, so that last bit goes beyond the stats.”
any of Spurs’ summer recruits were examined by Postecoglou to ensure they were a suitable fit personality-wise for his project, and the 58-year-old has vowed he will have the “final say” on any arrivals, implying “massive arguments” are less likely today than in Villas-Boas’ day.
Spurs, like any other leading club, rely on clever data utilisation and collaboration between the management and recruitment team to achieve success.
Spurs will never outspend their ‘big-six’ competitors in the transfer market under their current ownership arrangement, but while they cannot be the most lavish club in the Premier League, they can be one of the sharpest.
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