Mat Sadler explains how data scouting helped Walsall sign Jake Hollman
Walsall's summer activity has illustrated just how far and wide the scouting network has spread since Trivela took to the helm.
Courtney Clarke and Harrison Burke have become the latest scoops from non-league, Mason Hancock was discovered in the Scottish second-tier, but the most curious of them all was the arrival of Jake Hollman from Macarthur FC.
Hollman, with over a century of appearances in the Australian top-flight, has jetted 10,700 miles to the other side of the world to begin his new adventure in the West Midlands.
Time will tell whether Mat Sadler has unearthed a gem, but the most pressing question was how did he discover the midfielder in the first place?
Walsall 'worldwide'
Signings can come in many different forms. Local relationships are key, scouting is essential, but data played the biggest role in this capture - Sadler revealed.
"We use a company that scouts worldwide and we're trying to get our fingerprints in as many different avenues as we possibly can," the Walsall boss explains.
"Amongst all of that, we scout very locally but we also scout much bigger than that. This was a guy that was highlighted to us about six to eight weeks ago and we've done a lot of work on whether we should take that on.
