SRC is “the eye test” measure of a players ability. It’s passed through several scouts and a player is rated based on what these scouts see.

Potential/capability of development is probably the most interesting metric in these reports because we are looking at younger players. There is no upper limit here, so the higher the number, the greater the future potential.

+/- is a statistic that you may be familiar with from other sports - however in this context +/- looks at the positive actions a player makes compared to the change in scoring. Considering the base of 100 - anything above this is good and anything below this is not good and something NYC want to avoid in their players.

Finally, level of play is another useful factor to consider. It allows us to look at a level of experience a player has played so far in his career. For NYC and the players we are going to look at, it’s useful because the Front Office may be wanting players to either build experience or bring in players that have played at a higher or similar level. For example a signing like Pirlo brings a great deal of experience and has played at the highest level - so there’s no doubt he’s able to play in Major League Soccer.

Finally, the GSN Index is a combination of all these four factors. It means that you can compare a player with any other professional to see what their current and future quality is. For me it’s difficult to fully trust a black box like this - but in this analysis it serves as a useful metric to compare the potential transfer targets of NYCFC. Onto the players…