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Cardiff City's head of recruitment has revealed how the club had to rip up their old transfer strategy and implement a new system which is "one of the most efficient in the Championship".
The Bluebirds have had to streamline the way that they work in order to punch up their recruitment network to meet modern requirements and transfer chief Patrick Deboys is leading that change.
Deboys has a very broad remit, having taken on the role has recruitment head following the departure of Kevin Beadell in the summer of 2023, and has been tasked with making the club's transfer department run more efficiently. There has been a clear push towards targeting younger players with value in order for the club to finally start making money in the transfer windows, rather than haemorrhaging it.
The likes of Jesper Daland, Alex Robertson and Yousef Salech were brought in with the hope being that they would improve the team immediately but also increase in value in the years to come.
And Deboys, in an interview with the club's matchday programme, has explained his wide-ranging role and how the club have had to rip up and move away from their old scouting network to implement a new, data-driven model to sign players.
"There are five key roles that I would cover," he said. "The first one is head of recruitment, signing first-team players down to emerging talent, from under-18s up to first-team players. I would oversee that process. it entails leading a team of four technical scouts on identifying players.
"The second aspect then would be player contract extensions. We have successfully renewed some of our top talent under the age of 24 but have also seen our senior players sign extensions recently. I work with the aboard on that.
"Then there's loan management. We've introduced a system with academy manager Gavin Chesterfield and first-team coaches Tom Ramasut and Darren Purse where we have a detailed loan strategy that bridges the gap from our top academy talent to the first team.
"We've got 30-35% of the first team now being supplied by the academy, which is great and we're seeing the benefits of that. Another aspect of my role would be the multi-club management, with out sister club KV Kortrijk. We've seen huge success with the likes of Isaak Davies in utilising our sister club to bridge that gap and gain experience.
"Within our recruitment team, it's about leadership and seeing development. We have redefined our recruitment department and have shifted from a traditional scouting model to a more data-guided recruitment mod, with technical scouts focusing on different positions, rather than a location-based scout. Rather than seeing the best player in Manchester, for example, we need to see the best player across the world for Cardiff City.
"We have one of the most efficient recruitment departments in the league. You've seen that with the likes of Yousef Salech coming in; our system has allowed us to sign players from broader markets, rather than just the UK market."
Hard workers with a desire to improve are two "non-negotiables", Deboys says, when it comes to looking for new recruits.
Cardiff brought in Sivert Mannsverk (22), Salech (23) and Will Alves (19) in the winter window and all have made an immediate impact and improved the team.
While Mannsverk and Alves are only temporary signings until the end of the season, Salech has been brought in as a long-term investment and he is already repaying the faith the club showed in him by recruiting him from Swedish top flight side Sirius.
The Danish-Palestinian forward has netted four goals in 10 games, while supporters have also been impressed with his all-round game on both sides of the ball.
Deboys likes to think that the signing of Salech is the blueprint for transfers in windows to come, with it being hoped that the player's potential yields a lot of goals and potentially a lot of cash in the years to come.
"We consider the culture of the club, the area and the city and tie that into the players that we identify; hard work and being hungry to develop and improve are two non-negotiables that we have," he added.
"They also must have the level of athleticism and technical ability that we're looking for. There are differences within each position, but the fundamentals remain the same and they are our core values.
"If you take someone like Yousef Salech, for example, we know that he can improve and he has fantastic fundamentals. His desire to work hard on the pitch is clear. We've signed him on a long-term contract because we believe he will be an even better play in three years' time than he is now. That requires a level of hard work and desire that we have seen in him and was one of the reasons we chose him. He had an appetite to improve in the long term that we really like.
"It's always nice when a player comes in and does well immediately. The biggest thing is when a manager believes that we have a finished transfer window with a better squad than when we started. That is the goal.
"Over the long term, if we can make the squad better after every window, that's the most pleasing aspect."
Originally Posted by The Lone Gunman
