In case you haven't been within easy reach of the internet, the Web Summit is taking place in Dublin this week. The Summit takes the greatest of pride in its geek/nerd status and, as such, it's no surprise that the sport section of the event has found a place for some in depth sporting analysis. Wednesday played host to a talk entitled 'Head vs Heart - Do Statistics Matter in Signing Players?'
Key to the talk was Damien Comolli, former director of football at Liverpool. Comolli, despite being seemingly respected in football circles, is a figure of much malign at Anfield after he played a prominent role in the signing of some less than successful players such as Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing. Comolli left his position in April 2012 after many of the players who he had brought to the club failed to perform.
However, speaking at the Summit today, Comolli suggested that the perceived 'mistake' that cost him his job, was, in fact, the signing of Jordan Henderson.
damien comolli at web summit - just said that he was "led to believe i was sacked because we signed jordan henderson."
— Ken Early (@kenearlys) November 5, 2014
Henderson has since gone on to become a key player at Anfield, even taking on the role of vice-captain this summer and it would be fair to say that Comolli's scouting and analysis, in Henderson's case at least, has proved correct.
Damien Comolli has a dig at Liverpool saying he was told he didn't know what he was doing when he signed Jordan Henderson. Feeling smug now. — Cian Tracey (@CianTracey1) November 5, 2014
According to the Independent, the Frenchman went on to say that Henderson has developed into precisely the kind of player he expected him to when he was being scouted. Something which few predicted after his initial run in the Liverpool team.
Looking at Jordan Henderson, we wanted legs, we wanted physicality, we wanted pace and creativity in the final third. I was able to benchmark Jordan against the top midfield players in the Premier League, taking his age into consideration, taking the transfer fee into consideration, and in my position, you need to look at age, money and the player’s ability.
Looking at all this, what he was doing for his age, and all due respect to Sunderland, he was definitely undervalued by the market. And I’ve been told we overvalued him. Even directors at Sunderland later said ‘you didn’t know what you were doing’.
