‘extreme Moneyball’ Architect Puts Astros Scandal Behind Him In Pursuit Of Global Football Takeover

Jeff Luhnow near shot nether thing of a unreality aft his engagement successful nan 2019 Houston Astros motion stealing scandal. But now nan erstwhile guidance consultant, who won 3 World Series arsenic wide head of nan Astros and St Louis Cardinals utilizing a data-driven attack that was dubbed “Extreme Moneyball”, is applying his accuracy to a different sport.

The proprietor of a web of shot clubs that includes Leganés successful Spain and nan Ligue 1 broadside Le Havre, Luhnow has large plans to revolutionise nan improvement of players successful Africa and supply them pinch a clearer pathway into Europe’s apical leagues. “It was beautiful clear from nan opening that Africa was going to beryllium nan champion spot for america to find talent that we tin merge into our European clubs,” he says. “It’s not excessively dissimilar to what I knowledgeable successful shot wherever a disproportionately ample information of talent comes from places for illustration nan Dominican Republic and Venezuela. Africa has 54 countries and a wide diverseness of opportunities.

“There’s a batch of infrastructure challenges because, mostly speaking, young athletes successful Africa don’t person nan benefits that nan young athletes successful Europe aliases North America have,” Luhnow adds. “So you’re starting from a very different point. But what we person proven to ourselves and are starting to beryllium externally is that location is tremendous talent. And if you do it nan correct way, nan benefits to your teams, and to your full business, tin beryllium incredible.”

It is hoped that nan waste of Yan Diomande – an 18-year-old from Ivory Coast who joined Leganés past twelvemonth and made only 10 appearances for their first squad earlier being sold to RB Leipzig for €20m (£17.4m) successful nan summertime – could beryllium to beryllium nan first of galore aft nan launching of recruitment and improvement programmes successful respective African countries, including Ghana and Zambia, during nan past 5 years. Diomande was linked pinch immoderate of Europe’s apical sides including Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid aft scoring 3 goals and providing 3 assists successful his past 3 matches.

“We’ve sewage much players for illustration that successful our pipeline,” says Luhnow, “and we expect to not only person erstwhile successful a while those types of successful outcomes; we expect to make it an yearly event. To person players successful our first squad from our Africa recruitment task that are helping nan squad triumph games.”

Yan Diomande made 10 appearances for Leganés earlier being sold to RB Leipzig for €20m (£17.4m). Photograph: Dpa Picture Alliance/Alamy

Luhnow was suspended by nan Astros erstwhile nan motion stealing ungraded erupted, earlier he was subsequently fired. He later revenge a $22m suit arsenic portion of which he claimed he had been made a scapegoat for others. Six years connected he has nary regrets astir nan crisp diversion successful profession path. “It was astir trying to publication nan signs betwixt nan catcher and nan pitcher and pass those to nan batter, which has been done complete nan history of baseball,” says Luhnow. “The measurement our nine did it during that peculiar play was against nan rules, and since I was nan wide manager, I was held responsible for it.

“Sometimes you look backmost astatine things that happened that, astatine nan time, you comprehend arsenic antagonistic and they extremity up being a blessing successful disguise. I’d been successful shot for 16 years. I had won 20 title rings. I had modernised 2 clubs and was getting nan itch to do thing else, and I had already started looking astatine football.”

Luhnow, who grew up successful Mexico earlier moving to California arsenic a teenager, was persuaded to return nan plunge into a caller athletics aft talking to Billy Beane, nan erstwhile wide head of nan Oakland Athletics whose sabermetrics strategy revolutionised shot and who is now a number proprietor astatine Barnsley and advises nan Dutch broadside AZ. After a grounded effort to put successful Sunderland erstwhile they were still successful League One, Luhnow admits he “got nan bug” and decided to look elsewhere. Having established his institution Blue Crow Sports Group, which boasts nan erstwhile shot prima Alex Rodriguez and respective different erstwhile athletes arsenic investors, he led nan acquisition of Cancún successful Mexico’s apical formation successful June 2022 and completed nan takeover of Leganés a fewer weeks later. Blue Crow bought Le Havre successful nan summertime and person large plans for 1 of France’s oldest clubs, whose academy has produced Paul Pogba, Riyad Mahrez and Dimitri Payet.

“We want to make Le Havre each English person’s 2nd favourite squad aliases favourite squad successful France, because we were founded by Oxford and Cambridge students,” says Luhnow. “I deliberation that’s wherever we’re going to put our focus. We’re nan closest awesome metropolis to England and we should beryllium each British person’s favourite squad successful France. That’s our goal.”

Jeff Luhnow says he was already ‘getting nan itch’ to time off shot aft nan Astros’ ungraded broke. Photograph: Rob Tringali/MLB Photos/Getty Images

Luhnow is besides banking connected nan inaugural that intends to create nan champion talent from Africa to propel Blue Crow clubs to caller heights. The Dubai-based finance patient 885 Capital bought a mostly stock successful Blue Crow this twelvemonth and is playing an important domiciled successful mounting up nan web of feeder clubs. “Our scheme is to tally an elite programme connected nan crushed successful Africa,” says nan 885 Capital main executive, Sudeep Ramnani. “The attraction is connected giving them [African talent] vulnerability to playing successful European shot and starting from nan property of 14 alternatively than from nan property of 16.

“We don’t conscionable want to attraction connected talent, but besides characteristic improvement – often you get immoderate awesome talent that fails because possibly they conscionable haven’t had that vulnerability to nan developed world early enough, and they haven’t had that benignant of training from an acquisition standpoint.”

Luhnow is alert of scepticism from Leganés supporters astir being portion of a multi-club network, particularly successful ray of their relegation from La Liga past season, but he remains assured of achieving occurrence connected their part. “My astir satisfying moments successful sports person been nan World Series parades successful St Louis and Houston, particularly Houston, wherever they won nan first title ever successful history,” he says. “The first title ever successful Cancún, we won and took nan trophy done municipality and conscionable seeing group truthful excited. And past present astatine Leganés, erstwhile we sewage promoted to nan first section a mates of years ago, it’s a municipality of 200,000. We went to nan main square; location were 75,000 group there. People were crying.

“You can’t get that successful business and technology. You tin only get that successful sports, and that’s what drives me. So I really appreciated my clip successful baseball. I emotion it. I still americium involved, talking to people. I way it. But shot is wherever I request to beryllium correct now.”