By now, you’ve all heard about our work with Kevin De Bruyne and Hector Bellerin, producing bespoke reports to help them negotiate new contracts. As part of our rebrand, we decided it’s high time this service had its own name… so welcome to Signature!
Signature is revolutionising the way that players exploit there own data… The Athletic described our Signature service as shifting “the tectonic plates upon which the foundations of how transfers and contract negotiations within football take place” and Sportico were even more excited about the possibilities, saying “the potential power of data in negotiating contracts is kindling a new industry”. But what exactly is Signature?
Here are five things that you need to know about the Signature service:
1. We focus on a player’s sporting goals and career aspirations.
Contract negotiations can be tricky affairs. Between clubs, players and agents, there are a number of competing interests that need to be balanced off against one another.
Our Signature service focuses on what is best for the player themselves, resulting in a report which puts their sporting goals at the forefront of the debate.
By approaching us, a client can set out clear guidelines as to what they want to achieve through the negotiation process and ensure that we can gear our analysis towards fulfilling these objectives without the worry that competing interests will derail them.
Our analysis is independent, objective and uses data to accurately “game out” different scenarios and project the probability of desired outcomes.
Our Signature service will present players with the best pathways to achieving their ambitions.
2. We pose clients in-depth questions to build a picture of what they really want to know
With the client front and centre of the Signature service, our analysts are able to pose probing questions and discover the underlying value we can add through our analysis.
We are not interested in exploring generalities but devote our efforts to solving problems the client needs to overcome.
Questions we’ve tackled in recent projects include:
- “Which club offers me the best chance to win the Champions League?”
- “How does my salary compare to other players my age and contributing on the pitch at a similar level”
- “What impact does being an academy graduate have on my salary expectations over the next few years if I stay at my boyhood club?”
- “Which club/league would give me the best chance of being selected for my national team?”
- “What would the likely effect on my salary be from moving clubs versus staying put?”
Where other data companies might use one-size-fits-all systems and models to provide insight, we start from the bottom up, building the system to suit the individual. In this way, we arrive at entirely novel solutions to our clients’ problems.
3. We fuse performance and business
Our Signature service does not only focus on the on-pitch realities of a player’s performances but fuses this with the financial aspect of modern football.
By bringing together performance and business, we are able to give a fuller picture of a player’s worth to a club. Now we can give an account of the value a player adds to their club not simply in terms of their performance but in terms of their impact on a club’s sporting revenue generation.
Presenting a player in terms of their contribution to the club’s balance sheet is a much more powerful argument to present to club owners. It means that a player’s value is being measured in the sort of terms owners can understand, aiding the negotiation process.
4. We build customised models
Given the bespoke nature of the Signature service, we provide the expertise to be able to build customised models to help us fulfill our clients’ needs.
After years of experience in the football data industry, we have developed a number of ground-breaking models that continue to inform our insights day-to-day. However, our team loves to turn their hand at new research.
Answering complex and personalised questions means that one-size-fits-all models are unsuited to the kind of work we are doing. Our team of developers are able to build on-demand models which allow us to explore the queries that our clients present.
Our Signature service is all about building a story founded on objective data. Our custom models help us to achieve this for our clients.
5. We have produced amazing results so far
The Signature service has already produced impressive results.
Not only did we help Kevin De Bruyne achieve his negotiation objectives and help Hector Bellerin identify and finalise his move to Real Betis, we already have a track record of working with Champions League winners, Premier League winners, and players who regularly appear for the English, Spanish and French national teams.
If you want to be included in our list of clients, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!
