Jeff Luhnow has moved on from baseball disgrace and is deploying his data-driven philosophy to develop African talent at Le Havre and Leganés
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eff Luhnow left baseball under something of a cloud after his involvement in the 2019 Houston Astros sign stealing scandal. But now the former management consultant, who won three World Series as general manager of the Astros and St Louis Cardinals using a data-driven approach that was dubbed “Extreme Moneyball”, is applying his philosophy to a different sport.
The owner of a network of football clubs that includes Leganés in Spain and the Ligue 1 side Le Havre, Luhnow has big plans to revolutionise the development of players in Africa and provide them with a clearer pathway into Europe’s top leagues. “It was pretty clear from the beginning that Africa was going to be the best place for us to find talent that we can integrate into our European clubs,” he says. “It’s not too dissimilar to what I experienced in baseball where a disproportionately large portion of talent comes from places like the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. Africa has 54 countries and a wide diversity of opportunities.
“There’s a lot of infrastructure challenges because, generally speaking, young athletes in Africa don’t have the benefits that the young athletes in Europe or North America have,” Luhnow adds. “So you’re starting from a very different point. But what we have proven to ourselves and are starting to prove externally is that there is enormous talent. And if you do it the right way, the benefits to your teams, and to your entire business, can be incredible.”
