With a limited budget, cup finalist Go Ahead finds the most unlikely talents

Paul Bosvelt prefers to go to his screen for whole days. To match images of wing defenders who are mainly a substitute at their club, or strikers at the third level in Sweden. The highest technical man at Go Ahead Eagles is constantly detecting the European football competitions. Looking for undiscovered talents that can flourish in Deventer.

He wants to see something that « triggers, » says Bosvelt, in his sober office, right next to the main entrance of Stadium de Adelaarshorst. It can be anything: a pass, a shot, a walking action. On his computer he browses through a long row of videos. It will be Oscar Pettersson, the Swedish offside player who happened to be a few tons from IFK Gothenburg this winter break.

On the video, Pettersson, then at Gothenburg, shifts the game on the right from the center line with a tight diagonal pass. « Here you can see that he has an overview, » Bosvelt analyzes. « He doesn’t blindly take on the action. And here: he joins immediately. » With his mouse he follows how the Swede uses a long sprint, and shortly thereafter the goal to tap the cross.

For more than seven years, Bosvelt (55) is now ultimately responsible for the transfer policy of Go Ahead, the club where he himself started his professional career as a football player in 1989. When he was appointed, the Eagles were in the twilight zone between first and Eredivisie. Sometimes active at the highest level, but often not.

In recent years, Go Ahead has experienced a spectacular development: now four seasons continuously in the Eredivisie, with better results. This season, fifth place and perhaps again European football, just like the start of this season. In the KNVB cup, Go Ahead is in the final, something that succeeded only once in the 123th anniversary. The opponent, this Monday in De Kuip, is AZ.

Invisible potential

That upward trend can hardly be seen separately from the transfer policy at the club. Despite one of the smallest budgets (around 14 million, roughly a tenth of Ajax) in the Eredivisie, Go Ahead has been able to attract surprisingly talented players for several years, often for (almost) nothing. It is as if the scouts in Deventer see potential in some players that is invisible to the competition.

Take the Icelandic Willum Willumsson, the previous two seasons (shared) club top scorer. In the summer of 2022 he was already « placed at twenty clubs » when Go Ahead got the chance, says Bosvelt. Bosvelt saw a striker on videos who is technical despite its height. « Easy to shoot, strong left leg, creative. » Willumsson came for one and a half tons, and two years later went to Birmingham City FC for 4 million euros.

Or Oliver Edvardsen, the Norwegian offside player who was attracted for a few tons. This season he was already at eight goals and four assists after fourteen matches, after which Ajax took over in the winter, allegedly 3 million euros. And previously ISAC Lidberg, found in 2021 at the third level in Sweden. In the meantime at SV Darmstadt one of the most certain players in the second Bundesliga.

Every time a player leaves, it is up to Bosvelt to have a replacement ready. He is clear to new acquisitions: no long -term million contracts. Anyone who comes to play football here must be ready for a transfer higher after two to three seasons. « We are not here looking for the new ‘Mister Go Ahead’, » smiles Bosvelt while he points over his shoulder with a thumb. « The museum behind this is already full of this. »

Laptops thanks to Beukema

The current success follows the change of course that was used at the beginning of 2019. In that year, Go Ahead is in the hands of Alex Kroes, a former player broker and now technical director at Ajax. Kroes wants to run the club as « a company », which « becomes more worth more » by growth. Not like the toy of a rich lender who closes the budget every season and attracts players.

Kroes introduces a ten -year plan, partly prepared by Bosvelt and general director Jan Willem van Dop. An unusually long term in the impatient football world, Van Dop now says about that. The director receives in a modest office (« this used to be a school building »), with parapernalia in the club colors on the walls.

The promotion in 2021 comes for Go Ahead in a certain sense as a surprise: only on the last day of play, eight minutes before time, the second place is secured. That summer the two largest outgoing transfers follow in years: goalkeeper Jay Gorter (Ajax) and defender Sam Beukema (AZ).

Two -thirds of the yield of Beukema were invested in the club, such as a thorough renovation and by everyone to provide new laptops, Van Dop says. « That was desperately needed, we were still here with old computers. » Bosvelt receives a data scout that helps him in the search for new talent and the assessment of players offered at Go Ahead in transfer periods.

It saves the other scouts « really a lot of work, » says Bosvelt. Take last summer, when business observers offered around 2,500 players in Deventer. The club can quickly assess it with large amounts of data from external suppliers, who keep track of the actions of all players. With the same data, the data trap can also search for dozens of competitions at the same time to talent.

Sometimes a player falls off for financial reasons. « Players from Germany? Unattainable within our budget, » says Bosvelt. It partly explains its focus on Scandinavia, where the transfer fees are lower. More important is the sporting analysis. Does a player in the profile of players who are looking for the club at that time? Is there something that makes him special? In this way, more than half of all players offered often falls off, says Bosvelt.

Such a data scout is not unique, she has almost every club. But how it looks, it determines its success. Figures about passing towards the goal of the opponent say more than width passes. And do you look at how well a player dribbles, or how well he dribbles when the spaces are small? « The latter tells me more, » says Bosvelt. « That way you try to do it differently than the rest. »

The next shelter also takes place at the desk by viewing the remaining players in detail. Via fragments on the computer, sometimes for hours, to see if the ‘trigger’ that came out of the figures can also be seen on the field. Only as the very end does the scout also look in the stadium to see players in real life. By that time, according to Bosvelt, around 95 percent of all the players suggested have already been lost.

More risk

Much of that approach is the same every transfer period, although Go Ahead has become a little less conservative over time. With the arrival of businessman Kees Vierhouten, who died last year, as the owner, in August 2022, the club decides to take a little more risk, says Van Dop. Not irresponsible, but slightly less ‘economical’ than under Kroes. Bosvelt is given room to pay modest transfer amounts, up to about two tons. That makes it possible to attract larger talents.

Due to the sporting success since then, and the income from transfers, the space to make such investments is also increasing. This season, Go Ahead paid more than a million for a player for the first time in club history, for the Finnish right winger Oliver Antman from Finland. A purchase that immediately pays off, now that Antman has grown into his first season one of the most productive declarants In Europe, with fourteen assists.

For them, the cup final is probably more than what they had hoped for in advance. A chance for the first grand prize in their career, the first Grand Prix for Go Ahead since the introduction of professional football. More than a week before the competition, the streets around the stadium in Deventer already color red-yellow, and also carefully increases the tension at Van Dop. The specially designed supporters scarf for the cup final is already hanging on its coat rack.

At Paul Bosvelt in the office, a drawing of his oldest daughter (a vase with red-yellow flowers, « we go to De Kuip ») reminds us of the final. But it’s not like he’s working on it all day, says Bosvelt. In the back of his head he is already working on the selection of next season: the competitions in Northern Europe, where he finds so many talents, have just started again. The club has a wish list ready on its own platform for business observers. A striker and a playmaker, among other things, just like two central defenders.

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