Rio Ferdinand believes Kevin de Bruyne will not be the only footballer to use data analytics to negotiate a new contract.
De Bruyne agreed a new deal at Manchester City earlier this week and is understood to have used data and statistics of his performances when negotiating with the club.
Ferdinand feels that statistics can easily be manipulated in order to make players seem more effective than they are.
Nevertheless, speaking on BT Sport, the former England defender said he can see it becoming a bigger part of contract negotiations.
He said: “I think it’s something that’s coming into the game. Joleon (Lescott) spoke earlier that he’s known players who’ve done that before and it’s what my management company are doing as well.
“It’s another tool you can use in your negotiation but data and numbers can be massaged to suit a certain person at a certain time.
“So it’s not the be-all and end-all but the club will know what Kevin de Bruyne means for this football club - they couldn’t afford to let him walk out the door.”
Ferdinand's BT Sport colleague Lescott agreed with the fact that stats can be manipulated to suit an argument.
Yet he said that, with analytics and data being used a lot more in punditry to make a point, then he can see similar being done in contract negotiations.
He said:: “Obviously you can massage and manipulate stats to benefit you and I’m sure the club will do that with other players.
“I think it’s a new way to use analytics to your benefits.
“We use it in punditry to talk about how efficient players are on the pitch, so why not use it?”
