Five must dos

Here are five things we recommend you do to get the most out the TransferRoom Virtual Summit. Remember, you have 15 meeting slots at your disposal, so why not use them all.

1. Be proactive - invite clubs early to avoid disappointment
   
   
2. Be strategic - choose clubs that align with your goals
   
   
3. Be organised - use the agenda builder to plan ahead, and make meetings more effective
   
   
4. Be efficient - share your requirements with clubs to make meetings more efficient and to the point
   
   
5. Be fair - need to cancel? Inform the necessary club or agent (or TransferRoom rep) in advance so they too can plan their day

Don’t just listen to us, take it from them

Dutch international Davy Propper returned to PSV Eindhoven from Brighton & Hove Albion this summer. Talks had been ongoing for some time between all parties over Propper’s potential availability, and when his name appeared on Brighton’s agenda builder for the TransferRoom Virtual Summit back in March 2021, the situation escalated.

David Weir, Pathway Development Manager at Brighton, told TransferRoom: “It was about contacting the right people in the right way and telling them that there was the possibility of something maybe happening over the next few months. It was not clear cut in terms of how a deal came about, because situations are constantly changing.

“So you have got to be flexible in terms of how you work, and that is why having the TransferRoom forum and the deal days are really useful. You can have lots of conversations and ‘what if’ scenarios. It’s a chance to discuss some things that may happen rather than will happen, and that can pay off further down the road.”

Meeting clubs for the first time helps build networks, something Jiri Bilek, Sporting Director at Slavia Prague, has found invaluable.

He told TransferRoom: “We can speak with the people from Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus, Grasshopper Zurich, Sevilla. We spoke with these people who have been in football a long time, and have knowledge. We collected the information and tried to apply it to our systems.... It saved money, it saved time. The summits are the best on this service.” 

Johannes Spors, Sporting Director, Vitesse Arnhem, added: “To have the possibility for these networking sessions, this is good. I have been in this business for quite some years working for several clubs, but it’s not only my network that is important, it's also that my team has the network, and the more information we can have, and when my assistant or the head scout receives information it is important for our success and we are very happy with that.

Two tables help Arsenal maximise their chances of success at TransferRoom events. 

Loans Manager Ben Knapper explained: “In terms of dividing the focus of our meetings, we do that pretty clearly, so I’ll focus a lot on loans, while my colleagues will focus far more on player acquisitions and player recruitment, but certainly from my perspective, I’ll target markets I’m less familiar with, and strategically the ones we want to build networks in and start to infiltrate more and more. 

“So that for me is where it is very useful, and it has definitely been a valuable tool in that sense, because without it it can sometimes be hard to know who to speak to, to build those relationships. They are pretty intense days at those summits, and although the sessions are short, you force people to go straight to the point, and I think that can accelerate your relationships and give you a platform to build on that going forward.”