Using data to find undervalued players in South America – data analysis

Brexit has had a huge impact on life in general within Britain. There are very few areas that this political decision has not touched. With that said, however, it has surprised many just how much Brexit has affected football within Britain. For a long time, teams in England, in particular, were capable of raiding the talent hotbeds of European football and strengthening their club with young and talented players. The new rules regarding the right to work in Britain have rendered many players ineligible for registration in England.

We should pause for a second to point out the fact that the rules governing the transfer of players to Scotland are slightly more flexible than those that control the right to play in England. This has given Scottish clubs slightly more flexibility in terms of the players that they can target and sign.

One byproduct of the new rulings, however, has seen the opening up of the South American market for recruitment into England. Previously, it was easier pre-Brexit for clubs to get work permits for young players in the EU but to do the same for South American young players was a more difficult task. Now, the situation has been reversed.

This summer we have seen interesting moves from English sides as Norwich City have signed the Chilean international midfielder Marcelino Nunez, a midfielder that we had previously picked out as one to watch in this data piece,  as well as the Brazilian, Gabriel Sara.

In this article, we use data analysis to identify five players who are 21 years old and under and who are still playing in South America that we believe will move to Europe sooner rather than later. All of the data and statistics that we use in this analysis are from Wyscout but have been converted to percentile rankings before being visualised using a pizza chart.

#1  Tiago Palacios, Winger, 21 years old, Torque and Uruguay

The first player on our list is the 21-year-old Uruguayan winger Tiago Palacios of Torque. Palacios is a naturally left-footed wide player who likes to play from the right of the attack from where he can attack inside to threaten the penalty area. He is also capable of playing as a central striker.

He was initially developed at the youth academy of Platense before moving to Torque although it is unlikely that he will stay at the club over the long term, despite signing a relatively long contract. Palacios is a direct attacking threat in that whenever he takes possession of the ball his first instinct is to drive with aggression towards the opposition goal. He is powerful and quick, with the ability to carry the ball dynamically through the thirds.

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