At Tottenham, it was Bayer Leverkusen who were seen as a side adopting a similar style of play. Roger Schmidt's commitment to a pressing game is well documented and that made the decision to bring in Heung-Min Son more straightforward than it might have been.
"From a recruitment perspective, the tactical and physical demands that Mauricio Pochettino places upon his players are really important because they are fundamental to the style of play that he prefers," explains Mackenzie. "Therefore in order to support the terrific work that he and his coaching team does out on the grass you have to recommend players who are capable of doing what he requires.
"With that in mind, if you are able to identify players who are currently experiencing success within a relatively similar playing style and who can handle the physical demands asked of the player within that style then you hope that the possibility of that player not being able to cope is minimised.
"From a very basic attacking output perspective, in both of Son's two seasons at Bayer Leverkusen he scored 10+ goals but also importantly he only missed four match-day squads out of a possible 94 (and those were due to international commitments and suspension). This suggested that he had successfully adapted to the new demands that had been placed upon him there.
"Given Roger Schmidt's style of play it felt a good fit and Son's statistical data was also stable across a three-year period when compared to other targets. In his two years at Leverkusen he also played 16 Champions League games, which was a competition that the club was aspiring to compete in.
"His versatility was also important given the type of squad that we were trying to assemble at Tottenham. Paul Mitchell, the club's head of recruitment, was very familiar with Son when he played as a central striker at HSV so he knew what he was capable of when playing both through the middle and in wide areas.
"There are a whole host of things that are taken into account when evaluating if a player (either domestic or abroad) is suitable for the remit that you are recruiting against. You are constantly trying to build a picture of who the player actually is and you are trying to put their current performance level into context while anticipating the future.
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More recently, I would argue that Vincent Janssen's personality, robustness and his ability to deal with the challenges that he had faced in his career were as important, if not more important, than his goalscoring record in the Eredivisie. As a youngster who had been released by Feyenoord he demonstrated the mental resilience to overcome that disappointment by experiencing a continual increment in game time, level of competition and output across a three-year spell, which culminated in him becoming the starting striker for the Netherlands.
"From a scouting and recruitment perspective, whether you are evaluating a player from home or abroad, there is significant risk associated with it as there is a human being behind the performances and numbers and when signing a player you are initiating a significant change in their lives that they have to respond to.
"In trying to enhance the probability of it being a successful transition for both parties you try to place everything that you know and are aware of into perspective in order to make the best subjective decision that you can."
There are still no guarantees, of course. But by taking everything into account when buying from abroad, whether it's the style of play with which a player is familiar or the substance of his character, the risks can be minimised.
http://www.skysports.com/football/n...-scouting-the-challenge-of-buying-from-abroad
