What if the difference between a €5 million signing and a €30 million one isn’t just about pace, passing, or positioning, but about how a player reacts when things go wrong?
Premier League clubs, such as Brighton, are now utilizing innovative psychological analysis and AI to quantify players’ emotional control, leadership, and mental traits based on subtle on-pitch behaviors, revolutionizing our understanding of football talent. Welcome to the world of Inside Out Analytics, where every gesture tells a story.
When body language becomes data
Ex-defender Yaw Amankwah and psychologist Geir Jordet have analyzed thousands of hours of match footage, tracking over 100,000 subtle gestures to build detailed psychological profiles. But this isn’t about obvious celebrations or heated arguments—it’s about the microscopic moments that reveal a player’s true character.
Picture this: a striker’s shot flies wide. In the next three seconds, a teammate places a reassuring hand on their shoulder. That consoling pat reveals understated leadership, an observation often overlooked by fans or even the coaching staff. Inside Out Analytics captures these fleeting interactions and transforms them into quantifiable psychological insights.
The science of subtle signals
Over the course of six years, Amankwah and psychology professor Geir Jordet have compiled over 100,000 unique observations through their company, Inside Out Analytics, analyzing every player in the Premier League and Women’s Super League. Their system goes far beyond traditional scouting metrics.
Their data-driven rankings benchmark behaviors like emotional control against peers in the same position, identifying top or bottom percentiles in the league. Imagine knowing that your potential signing ranks in the 95th percentile for composure under pressure, or discovering that a seemingly calm defender actually struggles with emotional regulation when compared to elite peers.
The technology focuses on what psychologists call “nonverbal leakage”, subtle, nonverbal cues that offer deep insights into confidence, aggression, or isolation in players. These micro-expressions and gestures happen so quickly that human observers typically miss them, but AI never blinks.
Real-world applications used by top clubs
Clubs like Bayern Munich, led by Julian Nagelsmann, incorporate these insights into team selection. Psychologist Max Pelka collaborates with Brighton to apply this data in player development and tactical planning.
The applications are endless:
- Recruitment: Identify players with genuine leadership qualities hidden beneath the surface
- Team Selection: Choose players with superior emotional control for high-pressure matches
- Development: Target specific psychological weaknesses in training programs
- Squad Harmony: Build teams with complementary psychological profiles
Thanks to AI advancements, this psychological scrutiny has become more precise, allowing clubs to uncover hidden mental strengths and vulnerabilities.
The video scouting revolution
This psychological profiling revolution highlights something we’ve long believed at 360 Scouting: video analysis reveals truths that live observation often misses. While Inside Out Analytics focuses on psychological profiling, the principle remains the same – comprehensive video analysis uncovers layers of insight invisible to the naked eye.
Just as Inside Out Analytics can spot a player’s emotional resilience through thousands of micro-gestures, our video scouts can identify tactical intelligence, positional awareness, and technical consistency across multiple matches and contexts. This innovative approach provides a vital new layer in scouting, recruitment, and performance optimization in football. What makes Inside Out Analytics particularly valuable is how it complements traditional scouting methods, filling gaps that even the most experienced scouts might miss when evaluating a player’s mental makeup.
Beyond the eye test: The future of scouting
The emergence of psychological profiling through video analysis proves that modern scouting must evolve beyond traditional methods. Inside Out Analytics represents precisely the kind of innovation that forward-thinking clubs need—a scientific approach to understanding the mental game that has historically relied on gut feelings and subjective observations. While live scouting provides valuable context, comprehensive video analysis—whether for psychological traits, tactical understanding, or technical skills—offers unmatched depth and objectivity.
At 360 Scouting, we’ve always championed the power of detailed video analysis. Our elite video scouts don’t just watch players; they dissect every touch, movement, and decision to build complete profiles that go far beyond surface-level observations.
While we may not be reading micro-expressions like Inside Out Analytics, we’re uncovering the tactical psychology of players—how they think, adapt, and perform under different circumstances. Our approach reveals the mental side of football through tactical decision-making, spatial awareness, and game intelligence.
The competitive edge
Psychological profiling of talented soccer players highlights the importance of traits such as resilience, communication, and confidence in predicting performance. These psychological insights, combined with traditional scouting methods, create a more complete picture of a player’s potential.
Clubs that embrace both psychological profiling and comprehensive video scouting will have a significant advantage in the transfer market. Inside Out Analytics offers something genuinely groundbreaking—the ability to quantify psychological traits that were previously unmeasurable. They’ll identify not just what players can do, but how they think, react, and lead when it matters most.
The bottom line
Inside Out Analytics proves that football’s future lies in combining human expertise with technological precision. Whether it’s reading psychological cues through AI or conducting detailed tactical analysis through video scouting, the message is clear: the most successful clubs will be those that see what others miss.
Ready to uncover the hidden layers in your next signing? While Inside Out Analytics reads the mind, 360 Scouting reads the game. Our team of elite video scouts provides the comprehensive analysis that modern recruitment demands—helping you find not just talented players, but the right players for your system.
The future of scouting isn’t just about what players do—it’s about understanding who they truly are.
