Plymouth Argyle talent-spotting expertise now spreading far and wide
Director of football Neil Dewsnip has given an insight into the work of Argyle’s head of recruitment Jimmy Dickinson and head of football data Ross Goodwin
Plymouth Argyle are able to identify playing talent from all leagues across Europe as a result of the work of two key personnel at the Championship club.
The recent signing of Sierra Leone international striker Mustapha Bundu from Belgian club Anderlecht on deadline day is highly likely to be followed by more recruits from the continent – and possibly even further afield – in future transfer windows.
That is due to the work being put in by Argyle’s head of recruitment Jimmy Dickinson and head of football data Ross Goodwin.
With the Pilgrims unable to compete with the vast finances many of their Championship rivals can spend on high-profiler signings they need to spend the money they do have smartly.
That is where the reliance on football data comes in, and it has served Argyle well over the last couple of seasons
Director of football Neil Dewsnip told Plymouth Live: “Ross Goodwin and Jimmy Dickinson, who in sit in a dark room most of their lives, are in my opinion becoming very good at identifying talent that is waiting to flourish.
“Now sometimes it’s talent no-one has heard of. Sometimes it’s talent that has been prominent early in its journey and then for whatever reasons kind of goes underground a little bit to reappear.
“They are looking at leagues all over Europe. We are getting, in my opinion, better at identifying talent through Jimmy and Ross’s work, and Mustapha would have been identified as part of that strategy.”
Dewsnip continued: “There is no boundaries. Ross has developed a system where we can have a nosey at pretty much any league in the world.
“Now, obviously, there are certain rules the Government have in place here which means footballers have to score a certain number of points.
“So, for example, Mustapha is an international player. He will score highly because he has gained that recognition. And then it works downward from there.
“Even within international football it is graded, so you would score more points if you have played for Brazil than Sierra Leone. I guess that makes sense.
“So there is a number of points which Jimmy and Ross have in front of them which they can work to. Some of our targets
won’t meet that criteria, so we have to move on, others such as Mustapha we know that we can.
“That means we can then put them really high up on our list and investigate how we do the rest of the administration process. There is quite an expertise within the football club in being very proactive in recruiting players from distant shores.”
Another example of that is the signing of New Zealand international striker Ben Waine from Wellington Phoenix at the start of January.
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