One of the great revelations in top-level European football is the Ukrainian striker for Girona, Artem Dovbyk. It’s a story that repeats itself every season: a player not closely tracked by top-tier clubs, a late bloomer whom clubs hesitate to commit to, and suddenly, he performs exceptionally well. It’s a story that data has the ability to predict.
This summer, Girona paid €7.5 million to Dnipro for the services of the fantastic ‘9’, who scored 14 league goals, including a hat-trick against Sevilla. Discovering Dovbyk wasn’t easy because his initial steps were rather poor in terms of performance. Despite being a U21 international for Ukraine, his time in the Danish league (Mydtjylland and Sonderjyske) was very discreet, with minimal minutes, confidence, or performance. However, he scored the winning goal for Ukraine against Sweden in Euro 2021, in the 120th minute, and also scored a couple of goals in the World Cup qualifying phase for Qatar. The best was yet to come.
In April 2022, Driblab recommended his signing to a French club. At that moment, Artem Dovbyk began to stand out and take off as a goal scorer. A player’s performance line is never linear, and many factors can influence their adaptation, progression, and ultimate take-off. Returning to Ukraine revitalized his performance, and he started to appear in our alert system. In our rankings, Dovbyk emerged as the seventh-best forward in the competition.
That season, at 23 years old, Dovbyk scored 11 goals excluding penalties, a performance that surpassed the following season, with 16 goals in 17 xG (Expected Goals), in 22/23, earning him a place on all radars.
In addition to the initial recommendation to a French club in April 2022, when Dovbyk’s market value was less than five million euros, Driblab recommended his signing to a LaLiga Spanish club. Later, when he still belonged to Dnipro and was worth more than 11 million, we recommended him to two MLS clubs, as it seemed that no European club was fully backing him.
Data helps in making better decisions, regardless of the client, budget, or position. Good data coverage, reaching the majority of competitive leagues, a solid toolbox facilitating detection work, and a skilled team of analysts advising on signings after analysis and viewing, allow access to inexpensive options with great potential for appreciation.
