Chelsea announced a five-year deal with AiScout on Monday, referred to as "the world’s first fully automated talent analysis and development platform" As detailed in a statement, the new technology will become "an integral part of the club’s recruitment and scouting process for academy players over the next five years.".
Football.London was invited to Cobham last week to tour around AiScout's mobile "Elite Performance lab" a mobile structure only a walk from the training pitches. Pictured in the announcement was Jim Fraser, Head of Youth Recruitment and Assistant Head of Youth Development at Chelsea FC, along with Ben Smith, Head of Research and Innovation at the club.
"It's not about forgetting the older scouts, the older generation." Fraser states from the off. "It's not that at all as they have a definite feel for footballers and talent and they can spot that. We wouldn't want to go ''we don't want you anymore because it's all about data and technology and sport science'.
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"We've got guys in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50, 60s, 70s and 80s scouting for Chelsea right across the world. We don't ever want to go right let's get rid of all of the 80, 70, 60, and 50-year-olds because it's all about having 20-year-olds."
Not letting go of the past contrasts with the pristine lab which would not look out of a place in a James Bond film or something Tony Stark would build new tech from for The Avengers.
Tons of high-definition screens populated by colourful graphs and graphics, all visualising the profiles of young players even compared to the average of those in the first team at Stamford Bridge. We are given a demonstration of players using gym equipment to showcase how the player's output is then stored within the system to tailor individual training programs and monitor growth.
"Technology gives us the opportunity to work at a scale and speed that is impossible to do with people. You're not replacing them but you can put a foundational level, where we can reach into areas you can reach if you employ 500 people but that's crazy, you're never going to be able to do that," Smith adds as he explains its potential use.
"If we can put technology at that bottom layer to increase our reach or spot those really talented players a little bit earlier, these are big competitive advantages that we can use technology to scale into. That's not threatening our existing structure that's enhancing it. That's making us quicker, better, bigger reach so we can punch beyond our network of scouts to more quickly get them involved in players that we know are interesting.
"We don't know they're Chelsea players but we know they're above a threshold level where they're athletic, they're somewhere between quite good and excellent talent-wise. Let's go and get the real experts, our scouts, to see these players and smell the player as it were and understand it's not just talent, it's the application of talent to be really effective in a football match and are they right for us? The quicker we can get our experts seeing those players, the better it is for us."
AiScout at its foundational level was built to help amateur players be recognised by elite academies, using a mobile app to upload clips and create a profile for scouts to swipe through: elite scouting meets online dating apps. Although at Cobham, it might have a broader purpose, ironically being launched not too far from the SALT Conference in New York when Todd Boehly spoke of the club's academy.
Although his comments over a Premier League all-star game caught the headlines, his thoughts on the previous regime's lack of communication linked to the pathway from Cobham to the first-team.
“There are a lot of walls to break down at Chelsea,” Boehly said. “Before, the first team and the academy didn’t really share data, they didn’t share information about where the top players were coming from, so our goal was to bring a team together with the academy, with the first team, with the incremental clubs we want to acquire and develop, all of that needs to be a well-oiled machine."
With data at the heart of this partnership, it is easy to make the connection to Boehly's aim for alignment across all facets of the club. Chelsea is not unique in caring about data and there have been numerous examples in the Premier League of clubs embarking on similar partnerships in order to gain an advantage over rivals.
"This country is very competitive at the minute for recruitment." Fraser stresses. "Brexit has made it that. We have to stay ahead of the rest. Everyone is developing their infrastructure. 15 years ago, no one had anything like this and that was a big step forward for us. People are perhaps catching up and we've got to stay ahead and working with partners and collaborating with talented people is important to us."
The interest in data and analytics have become more widespread amongst football fans and observers, with the likes of Squawka and Opta sharing frequent statistics from games across Europe, along with more extensive software like Wyscout that is now used by professionals and those working in the media. Although its actual use in football remains at times a bit illusive, particularly with the biggest clubs wanting to remain ahead of competitors.
There is also the harsh reality of the pressure and scrutiny at a club like Chelsea that has consistently clashed with academy hopefuls craving opportunity in an environment that demands results today. It feels symbolic that on the day this announcement was made, Chelsea have reportedly agreed a pre-contract with RB Leipzig forward Christopher Nkunku to sign next summer for around £53m.
How will that impact the likes of Armando Broja? Yet to make a start this season, or younger attacking talents like Omari Hutchinson? He signed from Arsenal's academy over the summer and is already flourishing for the development squad.
Add to that those out on loan this season aiming to replicate the success of Mason Mount or Reece James in the coming years. There is a conflict at the elite level between the unrelenting demand for success and new signings, compared to a sustainable path for untested academy talent, who may have to move away to gain the minutes they require. Often, the former wins out in the end.
All of the most advanced data in the world cannot battle against the many variables that will not only determine a player's own development but the club's own path in general. It is noteworthy that the glass ceiling being shattered for several academy starlets came through a transfer ban and a flurry of unique events that led to a coaching staff compiled of faces familiar to Cobham.
Those series of wild events are unlikely to repeat consistently, but there is quite clearly an appreciation from the new ownership and those within the club that things can be improved. Even with the undeniable success stories of James and Mount, now two of the most recognisable faces at Chelsea, the youth exodus that saw Tammy Abraham, Fikayo Tomori, Marc Guehi and Tino Livramento depart in 2021 exposed that more could still be done.
"Technology is moving in every area at a frightening pace," Smith says in response to questions over the future of scouting. "It would be naive of us and Chelsea to think that we as a group of experts have the domain knowledge of everything that's going on. So we've got to partner with companies like AiScout to help us get into the cutting edge of how things are moving forward so we can work with them collaboratively to go 'how do we use that as a football opportunity to do something really cool?'."
But it is one of Fraser's last responses which hits the hardest over the true litmus test of any academy plan. "Everyone just hopes for opportunity. We can't control the next decision when they join the first team but if they have the opportunity, every player has to take the opportunity," he concludes.
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