Data analysis: Using data to assess some of the biggest transfers so far this summer

The summer transfer is in full flow at this point and we have seen a number of teams being extremely aggressive already when it comes to identifying and signing the players that they believe will make the difference for them next season.

One of the most interesting aspects of the window so far has been that two of the best teams in the game (Liverpool and Manchester City) have been future-proofing their squads with the signing of forward players who change the dynamic of their attacks going forward.

While those two transfers, which we will go into in more depth later in this piece, are interesting, there have been a number of other movements around Europe that have also caught the eye.

Indeed, there is a sense that the dominos are just starting to fall and that some of these more high-profile transfers, and the amount of money that is changing hands, will see the level of transfers start to increase as clubs look to replace these outgoing players, and so the cycle of the transfer market will continue.

We have started to see a trend emerge, which has actually been present in the German Bundesliga for some time, in that teams are trying to get their business done as early in the summer as they can.

This does, of course, make a lot of sense as signing players early allows you to integrate them into your first team and have them ready for the start of pre-season training. Smarter clubs, again like Liverpool and Manchester City, are completing their business and targetting players who will benefit their squad both in the short term and in the medium to long term.

One of the hardest things to do as a football club is to effectively plan and refresh your squad.

Succession planning and future-proofing are very important but difficult to do. If you still have resources in terms of wages, tied up in a position in the first team, then it is difficult to bring in a medium-term replacement for that position given the wages that you would have to spend to do so.

This is why clubs are increasingly turning towards the use of data, both in terms of tracking the age profile of their squad and in finding replacements for their current players.

In this article, we will look at player data for three of the biggest deals so far and we will discuss how these players will fit into their respective new sides from a tactical perspective.

All data in this article is from Wyscout and it will be converted into percentile data.

This allows us to compare those players against all others in their league in the same position.

#1 Darwin Nunez, 22-years-old, Benfica to Liverpool, Uruguay

There was a sense of shock when, before the Champions League final, the Senegalese international Sadio Mane suddenly made noises that he was ready to leave Liverpool. This was confirmed after the match as Mane made it clear that he wanted to move on in order to seek a new challenge.

In truth, though this moment was coming. The famous front three of Liverpool of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah are ageing and despite still being extremely effective on the pitch there is a sense that the club have to start planning for the future.