Tony Bloom gets Hearts investment approval from Steven Naismith as boss brands £10m move 'game changing'

The Jambos are in line for a link up with the Seagulls' owner

Steven Naismith insists a £10million link-up with Brighton owner Tony Bloom could be “game-changing” for Hearts.

The Edinburgh club are in advanced talks with the Englishman over introducing his data-led analytical software to how the Tynecastle side go about their business. Bloom’s Starlizard company is already successfully used by the Seagulls – with the English Premier League club bringing in more than £300million in player profits in recent years. Naismith refused to go into specifics of the deal with Bloom, who could become a minority shareholder in Hearts further down the line.

But the Hearts boss, whose team head to St Mirren looking to pick up their first win of the season, insists algorithms are set to revolutionise the game. He said: “It gives you so much information that has now been proven that it makes a difference. Whether it be on style of play, recruitment, opposition analysis, it’s a big thing.

“The better package, the better resource you can get, the more information you get, the more informed you’re going to be on your decision making. So it’s a big, big thing that’s happening in the world of football.

“I think it has maybe over the last 10 years been low key in terms of scepticism from some people. How much can it say? You need to see players, you need to see teams to see how they play.

“That element’s still there but the amount of information you can get from it is definitely game-changing. In terms of data, we use it with the players’ fitness, we use it with the style of play, we use it with the opposition analysis, we use it with recruitment. We use it at the levels that we’ve got at our disposal at the moment.

“We’re not at the top end of where it is generally in football. But like I said, I think like everything in football, as it’s more mainstream and the resources are becoming easier to access, then it’ll get touched on in all of these areas. We try as much as we can with the different data packages that we’ve got at the moment, but there’s definitely a lot of room for improvement with the better resources that you get.”

There is no indication on when the arrangement with Bloom to bring Starlizard to Hearts could become official, and Naismith refused to give anything away. He added: “To be honest, most things at the club I’m kept up to date with. I’m not in a position to speak on it.

“There’s areas of the game that it’s very early on in, but there’s other areas where it can be a massive benefit. We use as much at the moment as we can and what we’ve got the resources for.

“But I think going forward in every area of every club it’s going to be a big part of it. But in terms of any deal I’m not really in a position to speak any more about it.”

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