When Oviedo was presented with the option of signing Gastón Brugman a couple of summers ago, there were two factors that helped the operation. One, the videos, which showed a complete, talented and skilled midfielder. The second element was not so visible: the Uruguayan ran more than 800 meters per game at more than 21 kilometers per hour. He sometimes even went as high as 1,200. That distance at high intensity reveals the efforts in pressing or making defensive retreats. “The time you steal from your rival to make him think,” sums up an expert. These and many other data that seem hidden are those offered by Alebia Sports Analytics, the Big Data company that has been collaborating with Oviedo for a year and a half to help them track transfers in any corner of the world. “They are one more member of the technical secretariat,” they say from the club. “We are your DeepBlue,” they say, referring to the computer developed by IBM in the 1990s to defeat champion Kasparov in a game of chess.
Those behind the platform are the telecommunications engineer Kike Méndez (L’Entregu, 1983), the computer engineer Antonio Verdeja (Oviedo, 1982) and the Economics graduate Toni Díaz (Oviedo, 1985). They are the founding partners of Alebia, which in addition to Oviedo works with Mirandés and other First Division clubs, some of an international nature, which cannot be revealed due to confidentiality clauses. Its services offer help to search for signings or analyze rivals in detail.
To differentiate themselves from the competition, they highlight the differences: “What we offer is a customized platform, according to the criteria indicated by each club.” For example, if Oviedo and Mirandés are looking for a right-back on the market, it is more than possible that Alebia will not give the same answers. Each club establishes some priorities and, in addition, the football proposal of each team is taken into account. Cervera is not worth the same side as Etxeberría. “We are signature cuisine, not fast food,” Kike Méndez clarifies.
The new Brugman?
To test the tool, the founders of Alebia are asked for a practical example. They accept on one condition, to do it from their profile, not from Real Oviedo’s, which contains the soccer preferences expressed by the blue managers. Done deal. The journalist launches the challenge: “You have to find the new Brugman among the main South American leagues.” Toni Díaz gets on the keyboard, goes to the “similar players” tab where he selects Brugman with the performance he gave at Oviedo two seasons ago. And complete some filters: the main South American leagues, an age range between 20 and 27 years, that the candidate has played at least 1,000 minutes in the last competition and that its value according to performance is less than 3 million euros (so that is not far from the economic parameters of Oviedo).
The process lasts just over a minute and Alebia displays a list of names far removed from the media spotlight. One, Mauro González, an Argentine from Cobresal de Chile, presents a 95.2% similarity with the Brugman profile. The estimated price of it is 350,000 euros. Another, Jairo Concha, a 23-year-old Peruvian international who is a member of the Alianza de Lima, has, according to the algorithm, 94.9% of the conditions of the Uruguayan. He is valued at 825,000 euros. “The search is not exact,” they clarify, “but it offers shortcuts when it comes to discovering new talents that fit into a club.”
The data, to the rescue of Oviedo
Alebia, as a Big Data platform, is a complement to the work of the technical secretariat, not a substitute. This is how football men treat him and they accept him. There are details that technology cannot reach: character, competitiveness, adaptation to a new environment… But data helps. “Actually, it is often said that it is Big Data, but everything that enters an excel is not Big Data,” Méndez clarifies. “We would say that it is Smart Data (advanced data analytics)”.
The way to proceed is simple. Oviedo (and any other client) provides Alebia with the data it obtains from the platforms it has contracted (Mediacoach or Wyscout, for example), and the company is in charge of shaping it, presenting it and, above all, adapting it to the needs of the club. These can change at any time, hence the contact is constant. “Oviedo may be interested in wingers being, above all, fast, and as secondary conditions that they hit the dribble and help behind. But in the next market they can prioritize associative wingers,” Méndez clarifies. The tool does not stop, it is in continuous evolution.
In July 2021, Alebia highlighted a promising 20-year-old media player from Defensa y Justicia, an Argentine club, on her social networks: he was the future world champion Enzo Fernández
When Enzo Fernández was only worth 5 million
Alebia has some well-known successes that can be verified. Like when in July 2021 he highlighted a promising 20-year-old mediator from Defensa y Justicia, an Argentine club, valued at 5 million, on his social networks. A couple of months ago, Chelsea paid 120 million for him: he was the world champion Enzo Fernández. “Midfielder with an organizing profile, with a vision to filter good passes. The point of improvement for him: the arrival and the goal”, they defined him then. “It was a simple search, no more than a couple of minutes” summarizes Toni Díaz.
Another example, this one in an Oviedista key. When the company was just starting out and it still did not have an agreement with the blue club, a member of the technical secretariat asked Alebia for a cable to analyze a media outlet from the French Second Division that he had fallen in love with for its conditions. It was Pape Gueye, who now plays for Sevilla on loan from Olympique de Marseille and is valued at 10 million euros. Gueye’s is a good summary: first, a good football eye; later, Big Data as a complement.
Help with renovations
The search for talent is its most striking function, but it is not the only one. Another very interesting one is the one that assigns each player a recommended price and an estimated salary. It is about avoiding disproportionate purchases and contracts that do not match performance.
If Oviedo is immersed in the renewal of a soccer player, Alebia ponders what is the salary that he should receive based on various factors (performance, position, age…) and comparing it with salaries of similar players in the category. The estimates are based on “Transferroom”, another platform that Oviedo enjoys, or on information that the club is adding through conversations with agents or other clubs. “Alebia is learning and adjusting prices,” says Verdeja.
And there is more. As an “ideal eleven”: a competition is chosen, the Swedish league, for example, and it offers you an ideal line-up with the players from their championship that would best fit the style of Oviedo de Cervera. Or the style comparator that, for example, reveals in a couple of minutes that Huesca de Ziganda has a more offensive profile and has the ball than Oviedo del Cuco showed last year.
Soccer evolves and finds an ally in technology. There is still time for it to catch up with the “yankee” sport, king of the algorithm, but the progress is evident. Oviedo wants to ride the wave and the Asturian Alebia is the complement that helps refine the searches. “Some member of the technical secretariat tells us that the first thing he does on Monday when he gets to the office is join Alebia. For us, who are very Oviedistas, that is the greatest pride”, closes Kike Méndez.
2023-04-21 02:15:00
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