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Hello! Could a computer be running your club’s next transfer window?
On the way:
💻 The AI football revolution
🏫 Isak schools Havertz
🗣️ Rashford in talks with Milan
👓 Cunha’s glasses apology
A Future With AI: Tech could affect scouting and team selection
One of the more famous quotes attributed to Marcelo Bielsa goes like this: “If football were played by robots, I would win everything.” It’s an expression of faith and fallibility; faith in his tactics alongside an acceptance of human failings.
Footballers will never be robots, or not in a physical sense. But what if, in future transfer windows, robots were responsible for scouting them and signing them? What if the power of machines extended beyond recruitment to the extent of dictating a head coach’s line-up? Could it happen?
It doesn’t sound far-fetched because the sport has been adapting to new forms of technology for years, but if this feature from Jordan Campbell is on the money, an artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is coming. And while nothing in football can fully replace the human touch, AI will have consequences for existing feet on the ground.
Jordan records how two months ago, Premier League club Brighton culled most of their full-time scouts. Brighton’s owner, Tony Bloom (below), has been at the forefront of the growth in data and analytics, so it’s no surprise they are moving in AI’s direction, but it’s an example of algorithms making traditional eyes and ears redundant.
Advantages of advancements
(Steven Paston/PA Images via Getty Images)
In 2019, I interviewed Victor Orta, who at the time was Leeds United’s director of football. His scouting database contained 6,591 reports and it was labour intensive. Every report had been compiled by a member of staff.
Man-power is required for matchday analysis, too, but one of the people spoken to by Jordan — Lee Mooney, an ex-Manchester City employee who founded MUD Analytics — explained how AI systems were potentially capable of analysing thousands of games in a matter of days or hours, producing the best tactical plan for facing any opponent or individual player.
Many who work in football know AI is coming. Teams are introducing language software that scans recruitment reports for them. Barcelona’s Barca Innovation Hub is going the whole hog in using AI to provide physical support, with the aim of reducing injuries through the analysis of blood cells and so on. In time, the numbers could guide a manager who to pick and who to omit for optimal results.
A recent survey by The Athletic found that 65 per cent of scouts who work for English sides expect AI to affect their roles in the next two years. One Premier League figure told Jordan it could be a “cost-cutting measure” that reduces the pay roll. The temptation to embrace it will be huge. To quote Mooney: “If I don’t (embrace it), someone else will. Then you’re in an arms race where you’re bringing a knife to a gunfight.”
A place for humans?
Mooney doesn’t believe AI will render human input pointless. He expects “healthy tension” and “co-dependency” as time goes on, but there’s little doubt the technological creep is happening day by day.Omniscope, a science firm that assists Barca’s medical work, believes AI could take hold of performance monitoring in the next five years. Mooney’s team built a computer model that can pick through 25 million player appearances to find trends for recruitment teams. A club’s transfer window will never be run entirely by machines, but the tech will drive them more and more.
News round-up
Striker Light? Isak shows Arsenal what they are missing
Almost every DealSheet published by The Athletic references the fact that Mikel Arteta would sign Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak in a heartbeat. He’s the No 9 Arsenal don’t really have and, at this juncture, can’t afford.
This (above) is why Arteta likes him: Isak doing his thing by snaffling a chance in the six-yard box and giving Newcastle the lead in yesterday’s Carabao Cup semi-final at the Emirates. The Swede just doesn’t miss from that range and it’s his 50th goal for the club. He’s not even hit 100 appearances yet.
Whereas, later in the tie, we had Kai Havertz fluffing a gift of a header like a man with no head. That was where Arteta needed Isak to be. Arsenal sucked up a 2-0 defeat and while there’s a second leg to come in a month’s time, the road back is long.
Yes, Isak used a touch of dark arts with a little push before his strike, but the night was Newcastle’s by quite some distance, an away-day masterclass. If I was Arteta, I wouldn’t have bothered blaming the ball…
Crumbling City? Guardiola’s team set to be active in transfer window
On our latest TAFC podcast edition, The Athletic’s David Ornstein was unequivocal in predicting that Manchester City would be as active as any European team in the transfer window.
It stands to reason. Their Premier League season has been an ordeal — and to look at Sam Lee’s audit of their squad, a rebuild of sorts would have been essential before long anyway.
I was startled to see just how many of City’s established names are beyond their peak years (we’ve got details here on the chances of Kevin De Bruyne decamping to MLS and San Diego FC soon) and it’s odd that a club so successful and strategic would be blindsided to such an extent.
On reflection, they’ll be happy Pep Guardiola plumped for a two-year contract extension rather than one. He’s got work to do.
Around The Athletic FC
(Getty; design: Dan Goldfarb)
Catch A Match (Times ET/UK)
Carabao Cup semi-final first leg: Tottenham vs Liverpool, 3pm/8pm — Paramount+/Sky Sports.
Spanish Supercopa semi-final: Athletic Club vs Barcelona, 2pm/7pm — ESPN, Fubo (U.S. only).
And finally…
A confrontation at the end of Wolverhampton Wanderers’ defeat to Ipswich Town last month resulted in Matheus Cunha, the Wolves forward, receiving a two-game ban and an £80,000 ($100,000) fine.
Cunha was caught on camera yanking a pair of glasses from the face of an Ipswich staff member (above), presumably breaking them in the process. We’ve now learned that his punishment was mitigated by Cunha writing to said Ipswich employee and offering to buy him replacement specs. Bless.
(Top photo: Yagiz Gurtug/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
