You may have seen our announcement last month that we had the pleasure of working with Myles Lewis-Skelly on his contract negotiations. Now, a long-read article by ESPN’s Sam Tighe has explained how Analytics FC’s Signature service, which applies advanced analytics to support players in their contract negotiations, actually works.
Analytics FC’s Signature service, first developed to assist Kevin De Bruyne’s negotiations in 2021, helps players and agents leverage advanced analytical models to understand their worth and on-field contribution better.
The piece spoke to Analytics FC CEO Alex Stewart, who explained how Analytics FC begins by speaking with agents and players, identifying player goals and areas to assess, before using our cutting-edge, proprietary models to achieve a comprehensive picture of the player, their value, and outputs.
Using examples from the work we have done with Kevin de Bruyne, Ben White, and Alex Greenwood, among others, it showed how each bespoke piece of analysis can tackle certain questions, address areas of possible criticism, and reframe the way players are assessed. Reports can look at a range of factors, from player quality, to tactical fit, salary benchmarking, squad depth, and future performance and values.
Reports are usually between 40-80 pages and are walked through with the agent and player for a full debrief, ahead of its use in negotiations.
The article highlighted how Analytics FC’s work has changed the way players can approach contract negotiations:
ESPN spoke to various agents and club representatives from around Europe for this piece, and every single one agreed that data and analytics forms a central part of transfer and contract negotiations in 2025. Those individuals were also unanimous in their agreement of Analytics FC’s assertion that they were “levelling the playing field” by giving all parties access to the same data and resources.
The piece also quoted agents, including Alex Levack, who worked with Analytics FC on Ben White’s report. He is quoted in the piece saying, “We were one of the first agencies that started delving into that. We really embraced it…It gives you more confidence. You’ve got those extra tools to draw upon.”
Analytics FC’s Stewart says. “There’s no doubt that football in general is shifting towards this kind of thing. There are now people who are young, smart, understand data, get the value and want to be a sporting director. That’s a landscape that you wouldn’t have found 10 years ago, so it is becoming much more widespread.”
You can find out more about Signature by reading Sam’s piece or contacting Analytics FC.
Header image courtesy of Marcia Lewis-Skelly
