When pundits say a new signing can be worth 10 points to a club, is it just a saying?
Or can data about a footballer be turned into tangible points on the table?
This week on Off The Ball, we spoke to former Liverpool and Tottenham director of football Damien Comolli about that exact question, with the example of Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech.
"If you look at the goalkeeper in your team and you look at how many goals you concede from what sorts of shots, where the shots are taken from etc then you can extrapolate and take a goalkeeper from another league or other team and see how he does in his team and obviously it's easier if that goalkeeper is in the Premier League," said Comolli.
"Then you can compare how he will do if you bring him into your team. I read that statement that he's going to bring 10 extra points. I don't what the figure is but I'm sure Arsenal are a very data-based team and Arsene Wenger has always been. I'm sure he looked at it thinking we're going to gain extra points or concede less goals."
Listen to the full interview via the podcast:
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