The summer transfer window is close to it’s end day and Sevilla’s legendary sporting director looks very relaxed for a man ready to sell not one, but two of the club’s first choice centre backs. Diego Carlos has already left and signed for Aston Villa for 31 million euros this window and negotiations for the 55 million euros transfer of Jules Kounde, to Barcelona, are at a critical point. Ramon Rodriguez Verdejo, better known as ‘Monchi’, who has masterminded Sevilla’s inexorable rise towards the pinnacle of Spanish and European football, appears unconcerned with the fact that if Kounde goes too, it will leave a gaping hole in the middle of Sevilla’s defence. Such a scenario would be enough to sink most clubs, or at least set them back for a season or two.But, ahead of Sevilla’s short pre-season tour of England, when they will face Arsenal on July 30 and Leicester City a day later – Monchi spoke quite optimistically with Sportsmail.”When the two best players leave a team, the challenge to replace them is not easy, but we feel good about this,” Monchi said. “We really trust (Julen) Lopetegui, our manager, because we sell players but we are sure the players we sign will be better.”Sevilla are looking to spend around half of the fee they receive for Jules Kounde on a replacement.Kounde himself arrived for €25m from Bordeaux. pic.twitter.com/R4mf4qZyqm— Football España (@footballespana_) June 18, 2022 Sevilla don’t have the riches of Real Madrid, or the faltering giant, Barcelona, or even Atletico, but they always found their way to be competitive on both the domestic front and the continental. The club’s astonishing record of six Europa League titles since 2006 and their constant dwelling in the top of La Liga speak volumes of Sevilla’s resourcefulness. If the Andalusians can’t ‘fight’ their rivals using money, they will use their brains and analytics.Off the pitch, Sevilla have assembled a formidable team of 20 bright young analysts and data scientists, and put them at the heart of their operation.”Many years ago, we started to do things differently, but other teams started to do them, too,” said Monchi. “We wanted to do something different again and data gives us two main things. It reduces the error factor and the time for decision making (in recruitment).””In the past, what we had to do was look at 300 players, but today with data… maybe that is reduced to 30 with the right characteristics and you can watch them all. You reduce the time and you reduce the error.”A remarkable project, which has developed bespoke software that identifies talented players across the globe, who will fit the Sevilla style. But it goes even further, and is also aimed at maximising the club’s support and financial performance.##NAJAVA_MECA_6532595##In the last six years, Sevilla have recorded four top four finishes, but Los Nervionenses are now properly tooled up in the digital war raging at the elite level of football, and look even more formidable opponents.No wonder Monchi lacks doubt and concern, if Kounde leaves as Diego Carlos did before him.At the beginning of last season, Sevilla’s analysts began tracking 350 players in every position, a total of 4,000 prospects for the first team. By April that had been whittled down to 180 footballers, who were now also under the watchful eyes of Sevilla’s dozen principal scouts.Monchi, a lifelong fan of Sevilla and a goalkeeper for the club, took up the role of sporting director in 2000, after the team had dropped into the second tier of Spanish football.He says the secret of their success in the ensuing two decades has been hard work, good coordination and clear objectives. He has overseen a process in which Sevilla buy promising players, develop them, benefit from their talents and sell them at a profit. The sale of Carlos, who was signed for 15.5 million euros from Nantes in 2019, and potential departure of Kounde, 23, for twice what Sevilla paid to Bordeax three years ago, is part of an ongoing cycle.🚨 Sevilla’s number one transfer target to replace Jules Koundé is Thilo Kehrer.The defender wants to leave PSG to give himself the best chance to play in the World Cup.(Source: @samuelsonsilva) pic.twitter.com/yt7gEiIpoh— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) July 28, 2022 The Brazilian defender, Marcao (26), has already been signed from Galatasaray for 12 million euros to replace Carlos (29).Monchi and manager Lopetegui have established a profile for each position in the Sevilla team and the principles of play in attack and defence.These specific requirements have been codified by the analysts and in-house software engineers to produce a bespoke app, which they call AI Football, to identify the perfect fits for Sevilla all over the pitch.”We have made a deep analysis of the pattern of our team,” said Elias Zamora, the club’s head of data.”We use the tool to identify players with those characteristics. The machine speaks the language of Monchi, since he and his team were the ones that defined the content.”Zamora, a physicist who modelled complex biological systems for his PhD, has been a huge Sevilla fan since the age of five, and he attends the matches himself, checking the players deliver what his models expected.Sevilla pay 15 million euros for Diego Carlos’ replacement: Marcao at Sanchez PizjuanAnother application, AI Radar, is focused on players aged 15-18, monitoring 40,000 prospects in 35 leagues worldwide, wherever Sevilla can obtain data.The scouts populate the model with subjective information about the player’s style, presence, personality, and ability to impact the game – once the technical fit is established. The system uses machine and human learning to constantly test the predictions against the outcomes seen in the data and in the eyes of the scouts and analysts.The system issues alerts based on criteria set by the club. It has flagged 300 players since February. On the day Sportsmail was speaking to Zamora, AI Radar sent alerts about a teenage Brazilian and an Argentinian youngster, who had clocked up an ’extraordinary’ number of minutes in league competition.”The goal is to identify players in a wide spectrum of competitions who are developing themselves fast, who should attract the interest of our scouts. The difference in identifying a player when he is 18-years-old compared to when he is 21-years-old and established is 20 million euros,” said Zamora, insinuating that saving money and making clever decisions can get you far.Barcelona have prepared the contracts to complete their move for Sevilla centre-back Jules Kounde in the coming hours as per @FabrizioRomano. The fixed fee will be for €50m plus add-ons. Kounde has already left Sevilla’s pre-season camp in Portugal. pic.twitter.com/epvgiji9hM— Football España (@footballespana_) July 28, 2022 But that is not all. Every player who has passed through the Sevilla academy is also tracked as they pursue their career. This gives insights into the success of the club’s graduates, but also ensures Sevilla receive the ‘add-ons’ for appearances and achievements, due to them in every deal they have done. The system is currently monitoring more than 1,000 transfers.Sevilla’s people have been watching a lot of centre backs in the last 12 months. If Kounde leaves, Monchi will surely have an ace up that big digital sleeve of his.
