Analytics FC’s Signature service was referenced in Martin Samuel’s column in The Times this week, in a piece about how players can be assessed in the twilight of their careers.
As Samuel points out, “In April 2021, when De Bruyne signed his present contact, he commissioned Analytics FC to create a study of every aspect of his contribution to City. Its data analysis compared De Bruyne’s output with that of other top players in Europe and included both playing contributions and comparative financial values. The result? A 30 per cent pay rise, and a £104 million deal.” We designed our Signature service for De Bruyne, the first time such a report had been commissioned by a player, subsequently it has become the reference for high quality data driven advisory for elite players across the world, helping them understand their sporting and financial value.
Samuel’s article makes a strong case for exactly this kind of work. He begins by saying, “Modern football is a world of data analytics, number-crunching, rows of intense young men in tracksuits, peering at their laptops wherever a game is played. And yet, in some aspects, player assessment has not changed since the days when scouts evaluated potential armed with nothing more sophisticated than a cloth cap and a half-time cup of Bovril.”
The argument here is that despite advances in analytics, a revolution that Analytics FC has been at the centre of, players “aging out” of the game are still judged in a way that Samuel, at least, finds confusing: “Why, then, is [Salah] being treated like an old man?”
Of course, clubs have a variety of reasons for exploring contract renegotiations and ascribing value to players, but companies like Analytics FC can provide excellent contextual information on, for example, declining rates of output (using our Goal Difference Added age curve algorithm), expected minutes played, and the various scenarios related to length of contract, extensions and on-pitch performance. Our projects have also including working with players to assess the value of player experience on squad balance, another key, non-performance-based piece of analysis that can have huge impact on understanding the value of a player.
To find out more about Signature and how players, agents, and clubs have benefitted from working with us, get in touch.
Header image copyright: IMAGO / NurPhoto / MI News
