- Jul 27, 2008
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FC Copenhagen's transfer triumphs: Johan Lange explains their success
FC Copenhagen have become experts at finding value in the market. Ahead of their Europa League tie against Celtic, Adam Bate spoke to the clubs technical director Johan Lange to find out how they do it...
www.skysports.com
Here's an article on his time at Copenhagen that someone found on reddit. Here are some pertinent points from the article:
"We have to look further afield. The days when we could have a Scandinavian international within the club for four or five years have gone. The turnover of the squad is faster than it used to be. That demands even more from our model. The onus is on us to upscale young players who can perform in Europe faster. Without a clear strategy, it would be impossible.
"We have had to recalibrate our approach to the market to stay ahead. We have had to search for tomorrow's competitive advantage. We have had to embrace new ideas."
"At the identification phase, our process is very data driven," explains Lange. "We are trying to find players earlier in their career. That is difficult to predict but it is important to try.
"The partnership between myself, the manager and the scouts is crucial. We take time at the start of the process to establish exactly what we are looking for. Then we can set the parameters with the data. It is only after that stage that it becomes about live scouting.
"It helps that everyone knows their job and that Stale Solbakken has a clear style of play. It is difficult for the scouts if the style is changing from season to season. Our scouts know that their job is to find players who have the potential to play European football for Solbakken's Copenhagen with the capacity to be sold on to a top-five league within a few years.