Robot wars! Man Utd bid to get the edge on their PL rivals by using AI

Manchester United are turning to artificial intelligence in a bid to outsmart their Premier League rivals, the club have revealed.

United have teamed up with Manchester Metropolitan University’s Institute of Sport to ‘drive elite performance’ across the club and gain a ‘competitive advantage on the field’.

It will give United access to the institute’s research and innovation studies through a series of PhD programmes that include using AI to develop analysis techniques and metrics not yet available to other top-flight clubs.

The initiative was agreed with the university last year, before Ineos owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s £1.3billion investment, and has been led by United’s director of football insights and innovation Richard Hawkins and deputy football director Andy O’Boyle.

AI will enable United’s team of analysts to process the increasingly large volume of data more quickly during games and inform key decisions by manager Erik ten Hag and his coaching staff.

It will include tracking players and combining that data with different phases of the game to see what is working best and where changes are needed, while live feedback on players will also flag up any warning signs that could lead to injuries.

In-game analysis of United’s opponents could be combined with historical data to highlight areas where games could be won and lost.

United’s football director John Murtough said: ‘Working with the Institute of Sport will build on our excellent existing research and innovation teams in order to further enhance the performance and development support that we are able provide for our players.’

The new techniques will be trialled in training – where all first-team sessions at Carrington are routinely filmed by overhead drones – before being used in a match scenario.

Some of the new roles will be based at United as full-time members of staff at United, while others will involve working at the institute and sharing research with the club.

Although AI is seen as a valuable tool, sources have stressed that expert analysts will always be needed to interpret the data and pass it onto the coaching staff.

The institute says the new project ‘aims to develop deep insights into the technical, tactical, and physical demands of elite football using AI to create advantage on the pitch’.

Professor Tim Cable, the institute’s director, added: ‘Our collaboration with Manchester United has enabled us to attract world-leading talent into Manchester and bring our state-of-the-art scientific research to address the performance needs of the club.

‘The initiative will provide the club with an added layer of intelligence, further strengthening Manchester United’s football operations.’