Inside Football Intelligence
Bryan Mbeumo was signed at 19 from Ligue 2. The scouts were convinced, and the model was not.
By XAGON Inside Football Intelligence
Published 2026-11-02T16:11:40.777000Z · Updated 2026-11-03T10:00:57.140000Z
Lee Dykes, Brentford's technical director, has described the recruitment in an interview on the club website. There are seven stages. For each position the scouts produce a shortlist, and the data is used alongside the scouts' judgement.
The pool is about 85,500 players. The first cut leaves about 5,000.
Matthew Benham, who founded Smartodds after working in finance, became Brentford's majority owner in 2012. The Athletic has reported that the club bought cheap and sold for much more.
He told the BBC that Brentford mixes data models with scouting.
Bryan Mbeumo was signed at 19 from Ligue 2. Benham said the model was unconvinced. The scouts were convinced, and Brentford signed him anyway.
Benham says the numbers are less reliable for young players, because the data is thin. For a footballer in his mid-twenties, with hundreds of matches behind him, he told the BBC, "The model better like him or we are not going to sign him."