The name Joseph Iyendjock doesn’t ring too many bells to most football supporters. Yet , his recent transfer from homeland Cameroon to Georgian champions Dinamo Tbilisi could prove a landmark in the football world of transfers as his was the first to happen via the app of newly formed Nordensa.
We have reported about the transfer here at Tribalfootball.com, and one of the people who helped facilitate the move for Iyendjock was renowned scout Florian Blüchel. He joined us from his office in German town Regensburg to talk about his involvement in this new fan-backed company aiming to allow all of us for a few bob to act as an agent.
“Obviously, we were all thrilled to see Joseph join Dinamo Tbilisi,” says the man who has been involved with much bigger players than the 20-year-old Cameroonian. Florian Blüchel is currently acting as chief scout in Germany for Arsenal, whom he joined after more than 11 years in the scouting department of German great Bayern Munich. So why join the staff at Nordensa as well?
“Because I believe in the project and what they are doing. I was impressed with the idea of giving every footballer the chance to play professionally as well as enabling any football fan who wants to participate the chance to make some money as a football agent,” Blüchel offers as part of his reasoning to join. Another was the simple possibility of trying to help players that are not of interest to clubs like his own employer to make their dreams come true and earn a decent living from playing football.
“This summer we (scouts) were all watching the U20 World Cup in Argentina and all the best players were under careful watch from clubs like Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Bayern Munich and the like. These are not the players for Nordensa, but what about the third or fourth best player from the Dominican Republic?
“Perhaps the player is good enough to join a club in Switzerland, Scandinavia or somewhere in Eastern Europe. Maybe not in the best division right now, but perhaps in the second where he’d still be able to make a decent living and from there develop his potential. This is what drives me,” says Blüchel enthusiastically before offering an example of a player who wasn’t on his original radar but soon showed his apparent talent.
“I was scouting another player from Georgia for Bayern Munich, when Khvicha Kvaratskhelia caught the eye,” he says of the player who ended up being instrumental in Napoli’s title-winning side in Italy last season. Imagining a talent like that as a Nordensa-prospect is what Blüchel and colleagues, among them Brentford data analyst Luke Stopforth and Mariela Nisotaki, who is also Head of Emerging Talent at Championship club Norwich City, dream of. In the meantime, they hope to make a difference in the concept Nordensa provides for their clientele.
“Let’s be honest. Most agents are not focusing on the player and their career. They look at their salary and potential bonus. That is different with Nordensa, as we don’t care where or for which club a player turns out. We are there to connect the talent with a club and with fans buying into the project that means new money into the circle and at the end of day, hopefully we make a lot of people happy,” Blüchel affirms.
Along with the aforementioned colleagues, they offer a varied pool of knowledge from which to scout the proper talents for Nordensa.
“For instance, Luke is an absolute expert in data, so if we have a player with limited video footage, he can read a lot from data extracts along with our sports psychologist Luis Meireles, who is also a data scientist. Together they might be able to make a judgement on a certain player. But we are really different people who approach our work in different ways, which makes us a good fit,” says Blüchel, who left Bayern Munich for Arsenal after turning down a move to Manchester United.
The aforementioned transfer of Joseph Iyendjock was sponsored through the Nordensa app by 161 people from 25 different countries, which goes to show what an international endeavor this project is. And hopefully this is just the beginning as Blüchel and his colleague’s hope.
“It is difficult to say, since this has never been tested before. Like Apple or Facebook, it might catch on, who knows, but we all agree the potential is huge,” Blüchel says on a final note before he has to go. After all, there are always new players to scout.
