Liverpool ‘interrupted’ Spurs masterplan as Daniel Levy returns to FSG blueprint amid ‘talks’

Liverpool hasn’t experienced the best campaign in the Premier League over the past 12 months, but the same can be said about Tottenham Hotspur, and then some. Spurs is ranked eighth in the table right now with one match remaining and as it stands, the London club will not compete in Europe next term.

On top of the struggles on the pitch, the club’s best player, Harry Kane, has a contract which is due to expire in 2024. Chairman Daniel Levy faces the troublesome reality of losing the England captain for free next year, and it is also worth noting that Antonio Conte hasn’t yet been replaced as head coach, even though he was sacked around two months ago.

Spurs was close to appointing Feyenoord’s Arne Slot as his successor this week, but talks have collapsed for reasons which remain unknown. Ultimately, Liverpool has struggled this season, but the landscape appears far worse at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, unrest in some quarters directed towards Levy.

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The 61-year-old, who has held his post for more than two decades, must find a new boss to coach the team in the coming weeks, and he must make a crucial decision regarding Kane’s future. Spurs are toying with a serious decline right now, which is why Levy is seeking inspiration from Brighton and Hove Albion.

According to the Telegraph, Levy is in the process of holding talks with data-driven experts in a bid to almost copy the success of Brighton in the transfer market. Having flirted with relegation just a few years ago, the Seagulls are now flying high in England’s top-flight, ranked sixth in the table.

The south coast club qualified for next season’s Europa League on Wednesday night. The likes of Moisés Caicedo and Liverpool-linked Alexis Mac Allister might be sold in the upcoming summer window, but Brighton has proved its expertise when devising contingency plans, especially considering how Roberto De Zerbi has replaced Graham Potter, who left to join Chelsea earlier in the season.

Brighton’s owner is Tony Bloom, a renowned gambler in the poker world. He owns a company named Starlizard, who label themselves as ‘data specialists’ and make informed bets using statistics and sophisticated algorithms to inform their judgments, with those same figures applied to Brighton’s scouting operations.

That is essentially what Levy seems to be interested in emulating, but he almost did exactly that over a decade ago. Once, Spurs was a data-driven institution using new methods to establish an edge over competitors, but that era was interrupted before it could really gather traction because Liverpool and Fenway Sports Group crashed the party.

When FSG originally bought the Reds back in 2010, John Henry’s intention was to use the approach that had delivered success at the Boston Red Sox, with numbers and evidence behind every decision.

Back in 2005, Levy appointed Damien Comolli as his sporting director, presenting him with the difficult task of disrupting the so-called ‘Big Four’ in the Premier League, consisting of Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea. Comolli had grown intrigued by numbers, having being inspired by the ideas in Moneyball after reading the famous book upon its release.

It was through Comolli that Spurs signed an exclusive agreement with Decision Technology. The UK-based firm agreed to provide consultancy services through a man named Ian Graham, the company’s in-house football scientist at the time. Comolli and Edwards combined to consider potential targets, with Michael Edwards — who was head of analysis at Spurs — also involved.

With Harry Redknapp installed as head coach and numbers fuelling the club’s decisions in the market, Spurs climbed the table, but it didn’t take long before Liverpool poached its key figures.

First, FSG appointed Comolli as Liverpool’s sporting director, and the Frenchman quickly moved to bring in Edwards from Spurs. Shortly after, Henry attempted to buy Decision Technology outright but after failing to do so, he simply hired Graham to become Liverpool’s very own data scientist.

The rest is history. Today, Anfield is regarded as the capital of data in the footballing world, with Edwards and Graham combining with Jürgen Klopp to deliver silverware to Merseyside. Spurs, meanwhile, hasn’t won a single trophy since FSG acquired Liverpool in 2010.

It seems Levy is once again interested in using data to gain an edge, but now, he’s very much late to the party.