When German super scout Florian Bluchel was approached by Arsenal he spotted a golden opportunity at the Emirates on which he was prepared to stake his professional reputation.
“My strength was to see the potential in that Arsenal squad,” he tells i of an initial conversation with a headhunter in 2021.
At the time he had a big role as head of technical scouting at Bayern Munich and Arsenal were struggling to keep up with the Premier League’s best. But after an interview with Edu, and hearing the club’s plans, he was convinced the Gunners would rise again. “I think it was the right decision,” he reflects.
We’re speaking over Zoom because Bluchel is now throwing his weight behind another up-and-coming operation that he believes is destined for success.
He is a strategic consultant for tech start-up Nordensa, a Romanian app launched earlier this year that dips into untapped markets to crowdfund transfers.
The firm’s founder and CEO, Adrian Docea, describes it as “Football Manager in real life” and believes it is offering something unique – a chance for fans to play an active role in the transfer market while backing players with raw potential.
Those who sign up to the Nordensa platform are presented with footage and stats of players playing in overlooked markets who have been identified by their team of Premier League and Bundesliga scouts as having the potential to go further.
They can then buy “shares” in the player – up to 600, priced at £25 per share – and the money raised goes towards funding trials and a contract for a footballer who would otherwise struggle to find opportunities in European leagues.
If the player then goes on to sign a further contract, the fans who backed him are entitled to a cut of 8 per cent of their salary for up to five years.
Nordensa see it as a win-win scenario: for clubs there is no salary cost in signing the players on a short-term deal and therefore no risk, only reward if they prove themselves.
For players, it gives them opportunities they would not have had in exchange for a small cut of potential future earnings. And for the fans backing them, there’s the promise of possible financial rewards and also, via exclusive behind-the-scenes content, an “emotional investment” in the player they have backed.
“This app is for anyone who has played Football Manager and found a wonderkid – the best bit of the game is finding a player no one knows about, transferring him to your team and making a lot of money,” Docea tells i. “Only this isn’t a game, it’s real life.”
And it has had early success. Last month, Joseph Iyendjock became the first Nordensa player to land a move to Europe.
The Cameroon Under-23 midfielder switched from Union Douala to Dinamo Tbilisi in Georgia on a two-year contract after raising £15,500 in 10 days on the app.
Bluchel says Iyendjock is raw but promising. “We have told him, in his position on the pitch, he needs to start to scan for the ball more.”
He will get support in his new life in Georgia, with advice on matters on and off the pitch from the Nordensa team. A sports psychologist, Porto’s Luis Meireles, will also help him settle in. There are also plans to send a camera crew to document his journey and offer a weekly call from Iyendjock to his investors.
“Fan involvement is what is different about us,” Docea says. “If we want to change youth football in a significant way, we won’t be able to do that by just dragging some venture capital money into it or a club investing in it to bring over 50 players.
“The only way we can do this in a scalable manner is to involve hundreds of thousands or even millions of people. That would give us enough leverage financially to change the way people look at these developing markets.”
The app, he stresses, doesn’t make money through commission or owning income or image rights of the player. Instead profits will come from launching a premium subscription model down the line.
“We are open with the athletes from day one. Our company values are kindness and trying to help players achieve greatness,” Docea says.
The app is in its early stages, currently offering just a handful of players who have been scouted by a team of talent spotters that include Bluchel, Brentford’s Luke Stopforth and Norwich City’s head of emerging talent, Mariela Nisotaki.
“We’re trying to scout games nobody is watching and implement data and video scouting in areas where it doesn’t exist,” Bluchel explains. “The system is not fair and we think everybody should get the same chance to be recognised.”
There are plans to invest in academies in Africa and, next year, to either buy or take a majority stake in a lower-division club in Europe that specialises in player development.
Allied to Nordensa’s launch it promises to be an exciting, busy year for Bluchel. His job at the Emirates is to monitor the German market, staying alert for “opportunities to sign the best” for Mikel Arteta’s Gunners.
Bluchel is also a talent spotter across the youth markets, identifying the best players from U15 to U19 level who could potentially play for a club he believes can challenge Europe’s best again.
“We have this Vamos culture at Arsenal, heavily influenced by the Spanish head coach. He is a great leader,” he says. “I worked closely with Pep [Guardiola] at Bayern, providing him with individual player reports and the way both of them work, they are always analysing the game and players. When he reaches the young players, they get better.”
He believes the Bundesliga is the closest market to the Premier League and that Arsenal could “absolutely” bring in more German players after Kai Havertz.
But does he ever see a Nordensa player joining Arsenal? “Not right now but I can certainly see it in the future,” he says. “The way things are developing, especially in the African and Asian market, where we’ve got a whole network with video and data there, we can spot players early, at 17 or 18.
“From there they may go to one or two clubs and maybe end up at Arsenal at 23 or 24. That is the dream.”
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/zYaW15G
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