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On June 4, Southampton will hold a Tonsser Undiscovered trial event at their training ground. It is an opportunity for undiscovered players aged between 13 and 16 to impress and earn a contract at their famed academy. But this particular trial event comes with a twist.
The players have not been cherry-picked by Southampton’s own scouting network. Tonsser, the largest football player app in the world, used by over one million young people in France alone has now truly arrived in English football.
The concept is that players build their own player profile, capturing their performances using stats and video, including goals and assists, and vote for the best performers after each match. In time, a picture emerges of the strongest players in the user group. In 2021, a Tonsser United team, made up of unsigned youth players selected through the app, drew against Paris Saint-Germain’s U15 side. Young players need alternative opportunities.
Even so, it takes a leap of the imagination to believe that an app fuelled by its users can provide insight that traditional scouting cannot. “It is an opportunity for us to unearth those players we may have missed with our current scouting structure or just not seen,” he said.
“It is natural that you will not have been able to see some players. “Good players know good players,” adds Hamer. We have data for 18-year-old players but with younger players it is very hard. “You can clearly see how the model works because there are types of players who stand out. There are players who are different and different can be better.”
The hope is that for Paris read London, where the Tonsser app is particularly popular. Southampton are close enough to be able to bring young players from the capital into their academy without breaching EPPP regulations. Given the size of London, it is a chance to access players we have not seen before.” Players nobody may have seen before. “Some maybe did not play at an early age, maybe did not play league football, maybe have not had the opportunities.”
There is an understanding that any players identified may need to be brought up to speed. “There will be players who have not had the same contact time [with coaches]. But the exciting part is seeing players of potential. Maybe they are playing in midfield but we see a different profile for them.”
The key is to be open-minded. But Tonsser have not yet done a showcase at which players were not signed.
In fact, in some cases, 40 percent of the players have been signed. At the recent showcase in Paris, both PSG and Caen picked up players. Then there is the example of Alexis Kabamba who played for Tonsser United before winning the European U17 Championship last year with France.
In Germany, a Tonsser Undiscovered trial led to Ingolstadt signing Merlin Rohl, an amateur player who had been using the app to track his stats in the fourth tier of regional football in Berlin. Now a Germany U20 international, he moved to Freiburg for €3m in August.
With plans for a larger event in England later in the year that will involve multiple clubs, there is confidence at Tonsser that, with their concept proven, this is just the start for them in the richest market of them all. The preliminary screening process begins in London in May. By June, Southampton expect to have signed a young player discovered on an app.
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