You wonder when data analysis will come into football when purchasing players as teams still for some reason chase the big names asking hefty pay checks.

Wouldn't you think that this is already happening? I often look at the salaries of the football players and think how the hell is it that certain teams aren't just winning the whole thing every year but then again, it kind of is the usual suspects that are just out-spending everyone else and therefore are definitely going to win. It doesn't seem to be the case with Man United though. Even though I don't watch the sport very closely at all it was big news even in my world when Leicester FC won the league on a much smaller budget than the other guys. Was this not a case of roster optimization?