How Wyscout API Provides Advanced Data Scouting Solutions For K.V. Mechelen
For a club with a lower budget than those at the top end of the Belgian Pro League, it’s important to have a solid scouting system in place. K.V. Mechelen Data Scout, Nathan De Ridder tells us how he identifies transfer targets, contextualises data, and which technology he uses to optimise his professional scouting role.
As a Data Scout, De Ridder’s core role is to identify transfer targets through the use of data.
“My purpose is to facilitate the scouting process using modern data methods, to make the identification process go smoothly,” he said. “Obviously you’ve got the old school way of scouting where you’re reliant on agents, but I think in any industry it’s necessary to move with the trends of the world of football. So that’s what we’re trying to do now, innovate more and try to be a step ahead of the arrivals in our league.”
Having the intention to use data for scouting purposes is one thing, but actually making a plan and defining a club-specific approach to data scouting is the next step of implementation.
“With data scouting, what you want is to identify players who suit the specific needs of your club, and the certain mentality we need from our players,” said De Ridder. “Our club mentality is that you work hard and make your shirt wet with sweat, so if we find a player is without a willingness to fight for the club, then we don’t think the player is suited for our games.
“When we analyse the data on a potential target, we make sure that on certain KPIs the player’s score is high, so that we know that he can integrate well into our way of working.”
K.V. Mechelen uses Wyscout API to optimise their scouting performance through a more automated and integrated workflow. This allows them to create their own database, choosing the output format that’s suitable for their needs and taking the analysis beyond what is traditionally available.
Before implementing Wyscout API, Mechelen was operating an effective, but more limited scouting function, as De Ridder explains: “Beforehand we could extract data, but it was only up to 500 players and one league. Also, it was a more manual process, so some data would eventually become outdated, but now with the API we always have up-to-date data.
“We set up a script with Hudl Pro Services where we created a data pipeline from the script to our database, where we always have our updated data housed.
“Each week we get information on thousands of players and not every player is relevant for us, so we identify the interesting players and move them onto a short list or long list,” said De Ridder.
“But because we have this whole huge pile of data on an extremely big pile of players, it gives the club a lot of freedom to approach data, because if you don’t have the API, you’re dependent on the offers the platform gives you, while if you have the raw data, you can approach it in a much more detailed way.
“Having the API gives you a lot more freedom to approach a specific way of working that you want to achieve.”
Sorting through a massive amount of raw data can be executed in line with internal measurements and KPIs, but what do those indicators mean to each different persona within a club?
“Using data is storytelling,” said De Ridder. “I might know what a certain number on a certain KPI means, but that doesn’t mean the Director of Sport or the Head of Scouting knows exactly what that number means.
“So, we use Tableau dashboards to tell a story with the data, making it easy to interpret for someone who doesn’t really know much about the numbers. Because of the visualisation, they are able to understand what I’m trying to say, why I think a player could be interesting, or not.”
Learn more about Wyscout API here.
Image: istock
