Arsenal’s five biggest successes from StatDNA scouting system to find transfers
Arsenal have had varying levels of success in the transfer market over the years, it is fair to say.
Even during Arsene Wenger’s later years, the Gunners managed to snap up players who went on to become heroes at the Emirates Stadium.
However, perhaps Arsenal should have had an even bigger success rate, based on their multimillion pound scouting system.
Back in 2012, the Premier League side took a ‘Moneyball’ approach, helped by their in-depth scouting system called StatDNA, that crunches every single conceivable statistic to suggest potential signings.
According to Jon Smith’s book The Deal: Inside the World of a Super-Agent, Wenger was a firm believer in the system, and had a matrix drawn up that players had to meet before they were signed.
It is true that the system helped Arsenal land talents including Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Santi Cazorla, who all arrived from abroad to huge degrees of success.
Meanwhile, Petr Cech and Danny Welbeck were better known having played in the Premier League for so long, but were still run through the system.
Also on the list of StatDNA approved signings are Nacho Monreal, Mohamed Elneny and Olivier Giroud, who are looked favourably upon.
However, the system was also guilty of convincing the club to sign defensive flops Gabriel Paulista and Mathieu Debuchy as well as Calum Chambers.
Wenger gave a fairly detailed rundown of how Arsenal use the system after the signing of Gabriel in 2015.
“We look at interceptions, defensive errors, winning tackles – what we call tackles is committing to win the ball,” he said. “Set piece receptions, these kind of things. The most important thing is through the eye.
“Does this system find players for us? That is what we look for, of course, because it is difficult to watch all the games. But what I mean is that if the numbers confirm the eye, it gives you more.
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“If a guy [scout] comes home and says: ‘I’ve seen a good player,’ you can statistically observe this player for five, six, seven games. You send him again, he comes back and says he’s a good player‚ the numbers confirm it, you can say the risk is limited. Though there is always a risk.
“We have our own system [through StatDNA], with qualities we think are important. After that, you have the attitude of the player. Because you can have good stats for a while but if you go out every night until six o’clock in the morning, it won’t last.”
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