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The coronavirus pandemic has caused football clubs to change the way they spot their future stars.
Burnley believes he has found an answer – by asking young people around the world to show up at the club’s academy using a mobile phone app.
Footballers over the age of 14 can film themselves performing specific drills and then upload them to the app, which uses artificial intelligence technology to analyze, score and compare players.
Burnley, which was taken over by an American investment group ALK Capital in December, will invite “outstanding” young people identified by the app’s scouts to the official academy trials later this year.
“This is a first opportunity for us to introduce new data-driven technologies into club football and to promote Burnley in the football world by giving an opportunity to ambitious young players,” said incoming chairman Alan Pace – in which ALK Capital holds a minority stake. in the AiScout app.
‘With the pandemic currently resulting in a suspension from youth football in Lancashire and across the UK, this trial represents an open and inclusive opportunity for football players to complete a series of drills in their own environment which may end by screening by a Prime Minister. League club. ”
The founder and CEO of the app, Darren Peries, came up with the idea after his son was released by Tottenham.
He was surprised when scouts approached him for online clips of his son playing football, and it got him thinking.
He told BBC Sport: “I wasn’t a football dad, to make sure I had all that kind of information. It intrigued me. I wanted to know why they still had to come out on a Saturday or Sunday morning in the rain when they sign professionals with data.
“What we did was take what goes in a six to eight week trial, like the exercises and sports tests, and we put them in the app and made them available to millions of people. people via a phone rather the lucky few who are spotted. This gives scouts a good view of the player. “
The app analyzes “technical, athletic, cognitive and psychometric abilities” – and has already helped its first full-fledged professional player.
Defender Ben Greenwood, 17, appeared in trials at four Premier League clubs before signing for the league side Bournemouth and has since played for the Republic of Ireland under-18s.
“This boy had never been in the academy structure at all or had never been screened,” Peries said.
“He was playing outside the league in Surrey and thought it was all over.
“We showed the data to Chelsea and they gave him a one-day try to start and he ended up being 10 weeks there.
“It made this club and other clubs look at it. That’s our role. We give players the opportunity to showcase themselves with data at clubs.”
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