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Everton's Chief European Scout Gretar Steinsson has lifted the lid on the 'matchmaker' tool he uses every day in the transfer market.

In December 2018, the former Bolton Wanderers defender joined the Blues after spending almost four years with Fleetwood Town as their technical director.

And during his time with the lower league side Steinsson started using an online tool called TransferRoom - and he has now used that experience in his new role at Everton.

They describe themselves as an "online club-to-club platform with the purpose of making professional clubs' use of the transfer market more efficient and profitable".

The tool aims to make transfer dealings more transparent, allowing clubs to promote their players on a platform to sides who are in the market for certain attributes - and allowing each side to connect directly with each other.

The platform essentially allows club decision-makers to communicate directly, pitch players to sides and show which of their stars are up for sale or available on loan.

It's something Steinsson believes is important in the modern era of transfers - and he hinted at using the platform to find loan clubs for some of Everton's stars.

He told TransferRoom.com: "I have used TransferRoom since the start, first when I worked at Fleetwood Town, where it was more about getting talents from bigger clubs. So, I was mainly looking for loans, but also trying to source the market for potential clubs in where I could place my own players.

"Currently, it’s more about me sourcing the market for clubs that are looking for talent.

"I would say that every club has four platforms that we use daily and TransferRoom is certainly one I use daily and having it on my phone, if anyone contacts me with friendly requests or player acquisition.

"It has become a part of what you do and being club to club makes it more direct and becomes 'YES' or 'NO' rather than 'maybe'."

TransferRoom was launched in 2017 and more than 500 clubs are using the marketplace including Man City, Juventus and Roma.

They also organise summits where key figures from all their member clubs can meet face-to-face.

At the summit in Barcelona, which Steinsson took part in, 150 clubs from 28 countries were represented - and the Everton representative also talked of the importance of those meetings.

He added: "I’ve been in London for the previous event, but good to be abroad now and meet the different types of teams that have entered.

"I had very productive meetings, especially with the teams that already came before, as they understand how it is and how open the clubs are to explore the different markets, so it’s been definitely a good experience.

"The opportunity of then sitting down with people twice a year is for me a huge benefit, as I can speak to people at every level - especially when they want your players and you need your talent to go out to play.

"Of course, everyone has different markets, but TransferRoom services from the top down to the bottom, because we have something for every level and it opens up doors that people previously didn’t understand were available.

"Our approach was a bit more strategic rather than just go to an event and see how it went, and that decision was basic on previous experience."

Forbes recently described the tool as a "matchmaker" in an article following the latest Barcelona summit.

And speaking to the website Jonas Ankersen, founder and CEO of TransferRoom, explained the thinking behind the revolutionary tool.

“In today's transfer market, there is a lack of transparency and credible market information. Buying clubs have no credible information on which players are available.

“Most clubs have limited resources in their scouting department and therefore their market access is very limited. What happens when you only see a fraction of the players available? You end up paying too much.

“At the same time, selling clubs have no credible information on which player profiles buying clubs are looking for. For years football clubs’ market access has been restricted, but TransferRoom.com is changing this.

“When selling a player, you want to appeal to as many potential buyers as possible, and when buying you want to be exposed to as many relevant options as possible.”