European transfer guru Damien Comolli insists the data rarely lies when it comes to signing top stars.
And that's why tools such as TransferRoom - an online player trading platform being used by Rangers, Hibs and Motherwell this summer - can come in very handy.
The current Toulouse president is tasked with getting the club back to Ligue 1 after covid hastened their relegation in 2020 with an away goal scuppering their promotion dream in a play-off with Nantes.
But Comolli has also served in a number of key strategic roles including with Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool, where he unearthed Luis Suarez from Ajax.
He would be dismissed from Spurs when Harry Redknapp arrived in 2008 - but not before he'd left a parting gift with the signing of Luka Modric who was being failed by the tried and trusted eye-test by scouts.
And Transferroom offers the biggest teams in the world to come together in a remote setting and offer the chance to forge relationships and strike deals.
Speaking as part of TransferRoom's Virtual Deal Day, he said: "I was convinced about him. The scouts and the managers of the big four clubs were not.
"What they were saying was, 'he's too small, he's not physical enough, he doesn't win the ball, tackle, make assists or score goals'.
"He's with us and our algorithm says he's creating a lot, he makes the first press and helps somebody else win the ball, his ball retention is exceptional, etc.
"And then after that bigger clubs than Tottenham at the time started to say, 'we'll offer you £50m, whatever'. I'm thinking to myself, those clubs can't be wrong - there's something there.
"We know the rest of the story, he went to Real Madrid, becomes footballer of the year in 2018 and wins so many Champions Leagues and La Ligas I've lost count.
"That's clearly a player who was undervalued by traditional scouting and admired by data."
Comolli insists traditional scouting and modern data analysis go hand in hand nowadays.
"There are two approaches, there is a traditional scouting approach," he added. "There are different territories, different players, and if they identify a player then we will cross-check the data.
"We also run numbers based on variables by position based on the league we are in as well. The data is being checked by scouts at the same time. We constantly cross-check.
"What's interesting is that with some players we define with the scouts very specific aspects to look at in some positions, mainly in defensive positions - the data struggles and at the moment it's the new frontier how we analyse defensive players better.
"The scouts have very specific tasks almost despite what the data is telling us.
"We also put a great emphasis and put long hours into finding out how the player is from a character and personality point of view."
