The Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick has now claimed that Tottenham are emerging as one of the smartest operators across the Premier League when it comes to using data to inform their recruitment decisions.
Over the last few months, plenty of reports have outlined the fact that Spurs are increasingly relying on data to identify transfer targets.
We recently covered an update by Dean Jones, who said in his column on GiveMeSport last week that the days of buying players at the recommendations of agents are over at Tottenham.
He explained that moving forward, transfer targets are expected to be data-driven, with the club’s new sporting director Johan Lange, working together with new chief scout, Rob Mackenzie, to use analytics to identify the players with the specific attributes that Ange Postecoglou wants.
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 25: Tottenham Hotspur Chairman Daniel Levy during the FA Cup Fourth Round match between Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur at St. Mary’s Stadium on January 25, 2020 in Southampton, England. (Photo by Robin Jones/Getty Images)
Kilpatrick has now shed more light on how the club do so, stating that they have now moved ahead of their competitors when it comes to data-led recruitment.
He explains that while Spurs contract some of their data crunching to an external company, which specialises in sports intelligence, they also have a number of specialists working at the club.
These specialists compile targets based on the specifications they receive from Postecoglou before passing on the names to the recruitment team.
Kilpatrick states that Tottenham generally compile a shortlist of 10 to 15 players for each position using underlying performance data before narrowing down their list.
In fact, he explains that the North London side’s decision to appoint Lange as the technical director was informed by the Dane’s track record at working with data at Aston Villa.
Finally, the journalist adds that there is also plenty of synergy between the data specialists, recruitment team and Postecoglou, with the Australian also wanting to do due diligence on players’ characters before giving the green light.
Spurs Web Opinion
Based on the success that our summer recruits have had, one has to say that this new approach has worked excellently so far. Recruitment decisions are certainly made a lot easier when a manager has a clear philosophy of how he wants the side to play as players can be signed for very specific attributes.
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