Three-man shortlists and three scouting tests

[davieG]

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/three-man-shortlists-three-scouting-4941337

 

Three-man shortlists and three scouting tests – anatomy of a Leicester City transfer

 

Leicester City are renowned in the Premier League for the quality of their transfer business, but how do they go about finding the right player to take the club to the next level?

ByJordan Blackwell
07:00, 29 JAN 2021

Leicester City have just a few days remaining in the January transfer window to bring in the attacking midfielder they crave.

But how do they go about picking the player they will pursue? And how do they have such an enviable success rate in the transfer market? Here is a look at the process they go through.

Meeting of minds

The process starts with a meeting between manager Brendan Rodgers, head of recruitment Lee Congerton, who followed him down from Celtic, and City's director of football Jon Rudkin, and finishes with a list of three targets, ranked by preference, for Rudkin to chase up.

Rodgers explains: “We will have a look at where the gaps are in the squad and where we want to improve. We'll then highlight the positions where we need to strengthen.

“Then Lee will go away along with Jon and his team of people, they will then come up with the players that fit the profile of the market that we are in.

“Then, once they've done that, we'll sit down and look at the recommendations that come through. That's a whittled down number of players.

“From there, there will be three options that we would be happy to get in. We hope we would get the number one option. That's the process.

“And then once the player has been identified, Jon and Lee will go away and see if they can complete the deal for the club.”

 

Three types of scouting

There is a mix of scouting involved in finding the right player. The recruitment team use statistics to pick out targets, and City have Mladen Sormaz in a recently-created head of analytics role to really drill down into the numbers, but any potential signing also has to pass the eye test, while calls are also put in to determine their personality.

Rodgers says: “(Analytics) is a significant part of recruitment now but it has to be in balance.

“We have Mladen here who does a lot of that work for us along with the other scouts. When we identify a player, he will specifically look at the statistics and that side of it.

“It’s always in balance because statistics will never tell you if a player has a heart, or what his technique is like. You can only see that when they play, and you get to know that with the people you speak with.

“It’s a useful tool, but so is someone having a good set of eyes and seeing the potential in a player.”

Why are City so good?

A lot of City’s success has been on forward planning, and having a “pipeline” as Rodgers has described it.

When Harry Maguire left the club, Caglar Soyuncu was able to step up more seamlessly because he had been signed a year earlier and had been able to settle.

It was the same case for James Justin this season, the young full-back more confidently filling Ben Chilwell’s boots at left-back because he had 12 months experience under his belt.

Rodgers recently said that City have a “pipeline” for every player in the squad, with lists that are constantly being updated with the latest names.

 

On how City have been so successful, Rodgers says: “It’s understanding the market you’re in. We know the types of players we want to bring in. We’ll never be spending £60m to £80m on a player. We have a profile of a player that we like and that we want and that fits into the model of our game and we will be competitive in trying to get that player in.

“When they’ve come in, they’ve been great. Lee and his team have been fantastic, getting in players like Wesley, and James Justin, he’s been outstanding. If you look at the other players, Dennis Praet has come in and been very good, Timothy Castagne, Ayo Perez has been very efficient.

“It’s a huge credit to them, they do a great job, and we get amazing support from the owners.”

[eblair]

bit cutting on perez, not sure 30m signing for us should ever be only very efficient

[NaijaFox]

A whole lot of work, when a 3-man team of FT scouts would suffice...

@StriderHiryu(tactical), @Ric Flair(foreigners), and @HighPeakFox (psychology). 

[StriderHiryu]

I wonder who is in the Vardy pipeline? That is surely the question transfer / squad wise that keeps every Leicester fan up at night. 

 

The Fofana and Castagne signings make me think the club could just one day go out and buy a relatively unknown player who could immediately do the business and I wonder who it might be? Hopefully we don't NEED that player for a while yet and Vardy can keep producing the goods for a while longer!

[AjcW]

1 minute ago, StriderHiryu said:

I wonder who is in the Vardy pipeline? That is surely the question transfer / squad wise that keeps every Leicester fan up at night. 

 

The Fofana and Castagne signings make me think the club could just one day go out and buy a relatively unknown player who could immediately do the business and I wonder who it might be? Hopefully we don't NEED that player for a while yet and Vardy can keep producing the goods for a while longer!

I'd imagine it's the most closely guarded secret at the club. Wouldn't be surprised if they were using freelance scouts for that one so that scouts in attendance don't spot us at certain games. (back when they were allowed that was)

[Lambert09]

15 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

I wonder who is in the Vardy pipeline? That is surely the question transfer / squad wise that keeps every Leicester fan up at night. 

 

The Fofana and Castagne signings make me think the club could just one day go out and buy a relatively unknown player who could immediately do the business and I wonder who it might be? Hopefully we don't NEED that player for a while yet and Vardy can keep producing the goods for a while longer!

This is actually quite interesting. I can’t imagine we would just throw out the system because Rodgers knows Edouard. 
 

perhaps if he doesn’t top the analysts lists he isn’t going to be our man. 

Edited 29 January 2021 by Lambert09

[KingsX]

So it's 1/3 Rudkin, 1/3 Brendan and 1/3 Congerton.

 

If that little detail had hit Foxes Talk 12 or 18 months ago, the meltdown would have been nuclear.

 

I still can't suppress a couple of shivers.  But I'm getting there.

[HighPeakFox]

1 hour ago, NaijaFox said:

A whole lot of work, when a 3-man team of FT scouts would suffice...

@StriderHiryu(tactical), @Ric Flair(foreigners), and @HighPeakFox (psychology). 

I've no idea why, but the fact you had an area of expertise called 'foreigners' made me laugh no end.