AC Milan appointed a new chief scout earlier today and a few years ago, James Horncastle of The Athletic looked at his part in the Scudetto.
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Bobby Gardiner is not one of the biggest names in football, far from it. Before today, you may have seen his name when playing Football Manager or have seen his name referenced somewhere. If you have an interest in analysis, the likelihood of you hearing of him is, of course, larger, though.
This is not a bad thing, though. There have been plenty of occasions where the brain behind the project has been kept in the shadows. Could you name the technical director at Brighton, for example?
Again, not a slight if you can’t, but these roles are not the ones often in the limelight.
Gardiner’s work in the Milan project
Gardiner has been with Milan for several years now and he was actually an integral part of the Scudetto team, as Horncastle looked at for The Athletic a few years ago, which is again relevant now.
“Making Milan’s recruitment process even more robust was the data analysis department set up by senior football executive Hendrik Almstadt which he staffed with wonderkids Bobby Gardiner, Ben Torvaney and Tiago Estevao.
“The overall effect was a proactive approach to the transfer market rather than a reactive one without a dependency on agents recommending this or that player. Consider the latest figures released by the Italian Football Federation on commissions paid to intermediaries in 2021.
“Juventus laid out almost €29 million, Inter forked out around €28 million, Roma coughed up nearly €26 million. Milan, by contrast, didn’t even reach half those kind of figures (€12.5 million).
“The process hasn’t always been perfect. No football club has a 100 per cent strike rate in the transfer market. For every Tomori, there’s a Soualiho Meite or Mario Mandzukic, whose moves Milan were still clever enough to make short-term rentals with an “out” in case they didn’t come off.
“Other deals promised more, like that of Jens Petter Hauge, a data-driven signing who got a bit unlucky insofar as he hit the ground running then tired after already playing a full season in Norway with no breaks in between.
“His pathway was then blocked when Mandzukic arrived and took his spot in the Europa League squad. But as with Kalulu, Alexis Saelemaekers and Marko Lazetic, the price Milan paid for Hauge represented such good value that the club practically guaranteed itself a profit in the event of a quick sale.”