Research of Erasmus School of Economics alumna Lotte Bransen, currently working at SciSports, into soccer player’s contribution to chance creation by valuing their passes, identified Arsenal player Mesut Özil as the most impactful player in terms of passes during the 2017/2018 season and proposed Ajax player Frenkie de Jong as a suitable replacement for Andrés Iniesta at FC Barcelona.
Bransen introduced a novel metric that measures the players’ involvement in setting up chances by valuing the effectiveness of their passes. The research is interesting for scouting departments of soccer clubs, as they aim to discover the players that have a positive influence on the outcome of matches.
Another research by alumna Lotte Bransen, regarding the mental aspects of soccer, showed among other things that the Dutch-captain Virgil van Dijk thrives under stress and that Memphis Depay does not. ‘This research can provide new insights for the transfer market’, says Bransen. ‘When a club pays millions for a new player, it is important to know how stress-resistant that player is.’
- More information
Entire item in Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant regarding the research on the mental aspects of soccer can be found here, 26 February 2019 (in Dutch).
