It was quite interesting to see Steve Parish (Palace Chairman) go on Sky Sports and talk about his shock that Eze didn’t attract any interest this summer.
"I was really worried from a club point of view about losing Michael and Ebbs in the same window, and we didn’t have the interest in Ebbs that I thought we would," Parish told Sky Sports News.
"I was astounded. Genuinely astounded. I mean, the guy's just an outstanding footballer, an outstanding person."
Many of us who have a professional background in being Transfer Fiends were also shocked. But the comment is interesting because it shows how clubs are evolving their models and reasons for existence. Crystal Palace, in particular, have really started to shift who they want to be over the last five years. Dougie Freedman, their Sporting Director, has added some real quality to the squad since he’s been there (and turned down Newcastle this summer)… and one would imagine that part of the sell to these players is that Palace won’t stand in the way of exits if the money is acceptable.
My take here is they want to become the London version of Brighton. They nick players on the rise, take them from a Chelsea bench to their starting 11, transform them into something incredible, ship them off for huge sums, and start the process again. Brighton has been the ultimate player-flipping machine for the past four years, and this summer, their pot was so gargantuan that they ended the summer as one of the highest spenders in world football.
You can only reach those heights if you have a great technical team, a top-class manager, and can demonstrate that when the time is right, you’ll always find a buyer. Part of the success cycle is always being able to point to alumni who have done really, really well. I’d say Brighton are ahead there – but Michael Olise is a case study in excellent progress.
Brighton is the club everyone outside the top eight wants to be. They are a small outfit that punches well above their weight. They’re the club that brags about being data-centric, and they actually are. Brighton has style, boldness, and an incredible talent ID machine that has proven it can stand the test of time… and the regular raids of big clubs for their staff.
Tony Bloom dropped £195m this summer, which is quite a staggering amount of money. He made it very clear how things operate at the club – and that’s without an overbearing manager throwing their weight around.
Our role — Mike (Cave, Head of Recruitment) was at the forefront of it — is deciding which players to go for between myself and David (Weir, the Technical Director) and Mike, and then going to get them. Fabian is really helpful at the latter stage when we need players to come and show them the potential of Brighton. He is a big part of explaining their role.
Fabian is more of a head coach. He is aware of players, but the model at St Pauli was that the recruitment is done more by the Sporting Director and the Head of Recruitment. In terms of shortlists and players to go for, that comes very much from the data, the recruitment team, and the scouting.
I think this is really important – if you put too many eggs in the basket of a manager, you give them too much power over your future success. The great clubs build out infrastructure that is designed to deal with the blow of a manager exiting. Brighton have had their operation seemingly ransacked over and over again… but their foundations are strong, and their deep bench has weathered all the storms.
