Sport in its most basic form is quite simple: two teams or two individuals compete against each other, and the better of the two come the end of a game is pronounced the winner.
At its core competitive sport still is this simple, however one thing that has drastically changed the way coaches and clubs operate both on and off the field is data. One man in particular has had an immense impact on this drastic rise of data creation, processing and data-based decision making in sports – his name is Billy Beane.
He is known for guiding the Oakland A’s to a fairytale run in the MLB in the early 2000s with one of the league’s lowest wage budgets. His secret? Trust the data.
Beane ignored his scout’s opinions and always favoured raw data as to a player’s capabilities, allowing him and his team to find undervalued stars who would never make it onto any other team’s radar. So, what is Beane, a well-established figure in American baseball, doing working for Dutch club AZ Alkmaar?
Moreover, has his work with AZ been a success or has his philosophy been left in the wake of others who have used it as foundations for more advanced and modern ways of interpreting data?
Beane was hired as an advisor by AZ Alkmaar general director Robert Eenhoorn in March 2015. At the close of the 2014-15 Eredivisie season AZ finished in third behind usual suspects PSV and Ajax. The AZ squad at the time was home to the likes of Esteban Alvarado and Celso Ortiz. AZ also boasted a contingent of exciting youth at this time with Wesley Hoedt, Ridgeciano Haps, Nemanja Gudelj and Steven Berghuis in their ranks.
Over the following summer AZ made transfer moves which would have great financial and footballing benefits in future seasons. Before the 2015-16 season AZ added Alireza Jahanbakhsh (€1.8 million), Vincent Jansen (€500,000) and Dutch international Ron Vlaar (free).
Departing were Steven Berghuis (€6.25 million), Nemanja Gudelj (€6 million) and Aron Johannsson (€4.2 million) among others. Across all transfers in the 2015-16 season AZ pocketed a €15.1 million net profit. However, they were less competitive in the league, finishing in fourth, 20-plus points away from the Champions League places.
Though the big win in that season was €500,000 signing Vincent Janssen, who netted 27 times in the league. Prior to his move to AZ Janssen was plying his trade in the Dutch second tier for Almere City, yet this breakout first season at AZ saw his stock rise and created interest from overseas culminating in Janssen making a €22 million move to Tottenham Hotspur before the 2016-17 season.
From this deal AZ bagged a €21.5 million profit in one season from Janssen. Though in doing so they had lost a major goal contributor. Would Beane and the AZ staff be able to replace such a goal threat before their 2016-17 campaign?
Yes.
Wout Weghorst was signed from Heracles for a mere €1.5 million, and would provide 31 goals in his 60 league games for the club in his two seasons. Following these two seasons Weghorst was sold to Wolfsburg for €10.5 million, having become a regular in the Dutch international set-up.
Notable transfers made during Beane’s time at the club
AZ have made many more financial smart decisions, although the outlined business they made with strikers is indicative of how the club operate. How much of an influence Beane had over these moves is unknown, although you’d imagine he would have offered advice in identifying modestly valued players who were able to contribute to the team’s efforts in the Eredivisie.
(Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
As with data being so available in the modern game, no matter the division, there are possibilities now that were non-existent in yesteryear. Especially with Beane’s ‘Moneyball’ philosophy, which deems in-person scouting and trials redundant. Those exercises are things of the past, as football clubs currently invest heavily annually into analytics for the purpose of scouting regions they would otherwise not be able to.
Ironically, however, a lot of AZ acquisitions in Beane’s time have been from Dutch clubs e.g. Jahanbakhsh, Janssen and Weghorst. Though for the fees the clubs paid for these players it would seem they saw value that others had not. This seems to suggest that AZ read data in greater detail, or through a different lens to other Dutch clubs as they were able to identify locally-based players who possessed great amounts of untapped potential.
Overall transfer profit in Beane’s time at AZ
Overall AZ have become an undeniably financially smart club during their partnership with Beane. Prior to Beane AZ players were not leaving for large fees (Jozy Altidore aside), although the natural inflation of transfer fees that comes annually with football may have had an impact on this, whereas this did not have an impact on the signings made by AZ.
Each window acquisitions were typically made for less than €3 million per player. This indicates an impeccable eye for not only value, but value which is pragmatic in how the club wish to perform on the pitch, too.
In essence they are not signing players they believe can be sold for a greater value simply for the sake of it. Rather they are signing cheaper players who can develop and contribute to the team’s performances, in doing so they are naturally increasing their transfer value and creating interest from wealthier clubs.
Ultimately it does not seem as though AZ have any idiosyncrasies in terms of signing players based on data, as football, and sport generally, has evolved to a point where most clubs are aware of raw data and how to correctly utilise it.
Although, the fact that in-depth data systems and analytics for the purpose of scouting are so common in football clubs these days only offers a greater testimony to what AZ and Beane have been able to do in the transfer market.
“AZ is working in the most data-driven way of all the four clubs (AZ, Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord),” said Jesper Gudde of SciSports.
Furthermore, throughout this period AZ have remained competitive in the Eredivisie, typically finishing in the top four (European places). In the 2019-20 season AZ were level with Ajax at the top of the league before the season was prematurely ended, and awarded to the Amsterdam giants.
Had the season not been affected by COVID-19 we may have been praising AZ and Beane for creating a financially astute and dynamic squad that overthrew the usual suspects of Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord.
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