Liverpool Director of football Damien Comolli is big on statistics when it comes to looking at players as potential transfer targets. The latest to have their stats highlighted is possible Reds target Blaise Matuidi.
"When you find yourself handling three of the biggest transfers in English football history in the last days of the market, precise figures allow you not to do that blind."
The Saint Etienne midfielder has been linked with a summer move to Anfield and Comolli will use statistics to help him decide on which players will make the grade at Liverpool.
"In France, all the figures prove that the player who wins the most possession at the feet of his opponents is Blaise Matuidi, " Comolli told the News of the World.
"That is an extraordinary strong point. When the team plays high, it means a goal chance."
Comolli believes his new policy has already paid dividends as it was used to sign Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez in January and to facilitate the sale of Fernando Torres.
"When you find yourself handling three of the biggest transfers in English football history in the last days of the market, precise figures allow you not to do that blind," he added.
"You have to act quickly. For Luis, I asked scouts to make inquiries in Holland. I looked at his stats over the last three years - especially the number of matches played.
"We are going in the right direction of players who don't get injured. We are going to take more and more account of the health of a player in the future. It costs so much having players who don't play.
"With Luis, we took account of the number of decisive passes, his performances against the big teams, against the little ones, in Europe, the difference between his goals scored at home and away."
