TRANSFERS Anderlecht has revised its transfer approach and will henceforth place greater weight on scouting and data analysis in player recruitment. Sporting director Antoine Sibierski still has the final say on transfers, but his decisions are now being prepared by a stronger structure behind the scenes. The club has modernised its scouting operations under the guidance of David Verwilghen and Hugo Rios-Neto, who together developed a system to assess candidates in a more targeted way. Observations from permanent scouts and freelancers are combined with data, following the example of other Belgian clubs that have been relying on such methods for some time.
The division of labour by market has also been clarified: Erik Zetterberg covers Scandinavia and Abdou Cissokho Africa. When Anderlecht needs a certain profile, a shortlist of ten players is drawn up first, to make recruitment more efficient and less risky.
Source: © Internal source
