Football’s movers and shakers will descend on the Marriott Auditorium Hotel on Madrid’s Avenida de Aragon today for the transfer equivalent of speed dating.Over 300 club owners, sporting directors, chief executives, loan managers and agents from more than 40 countries across the globe, representing the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, Stuttgart, Ajax and Columbus Crew will fly in to the nearby Barajas airport and gather for four days of intense meetings and networking at TransferRoom.Monday was set aside for ‘pre-event’ drinks before the real courting begins today and resumes on Thursday. In a spacious room filled with 160 numbered desks, the respective groups shuffle along to a schedule, sharing 15 minutes with the people they want to see, pitching their stock, so to speak, to would-be buyers. Meetings are arranged via an app, which assigns a table number.’The room is set out like a GCSE exam,’ says one Premier League executive. ‘You have about 16 slots per day, and you go through the attendees and request to meet them, the system fills up all of your spots as you accept or are accepted.’All the tables are numbered, and you get your own programme and each meeting is on a different table. There’s a giant green digital clock usually hanging on the wall that counts down and when the bell rings three times, it’s time to move on. Ding, ding, ding. Off you pop to the next table, the next meeting.’There’s two packages. Basic membership costs about £20,000 and the full is about £35,000. The difference is what you have access to. That means access to pitch as many players as you want, reply to as many pitches as you want and access to add-on tools, getting deeper insight to things like player statistics.’ Football’s movers and shakers will descend on the Marriott Auditorium Hotel on Madrid’s Avenida de Aragon today for the transfer equivalent of speed dating In a spacious room filled with 160 numbered desks, the respective groups shuffle along to a schedule, sharing 15 minutes with the people they want to see, pitching their stock TransferRoom founder Jonas Ankersen (centre) says the platform has now been responsible for over 10,000 deals’You could argue it’s cheaper to pick up the phone,’ says one scout. ‘But it saves a lot of time seeing people face to face. Not just in the room but afterwards for a coffee or beer at the hotels.’It’s maybe more use for networking than actually getting a deal done there and then for some. Also you have to understand clubs are cutting back on scouts now, even the top ones. This cuts to the chase in some respects, if you know your players.’The latter is a pertinent point. Lee Dykes, Brentford’s highly regarded technical director, says TransferRoom has become ‘almost like an extra employee’. They also utilise it to help set up friendlies. Dykes had been aware of the project since his days at Bury.TransferRoom began life in 2017 as an online platform specifically tailored for clubs, taking its inspiration from web-based estate agents.Effectively, it is football’s online matchmaker. Founder Jonas Ankersen says it has now been responsible for over 10,000 deals.’That’s a milestone. This number represents a football industry that is becoming much more connected and transparent, much more efficient and more data-driven. It’s basically 10,000 careers that moved forward.’Name names, you say. Well, Viktor Gyokeres’ move from Coventry City to Sporting Lisbon in 2023 began when Sporting director of football Hugo Viana, now of Manchester City, contacted Coventry through TransferRoom before setting up talks with the striker’s agency, HCM Sports Management.Antoine Semenyo’s transfer from Bristol City to Bournemouth in 2023, Daryl Dike’s switch from Orlando City to West Bromwich Albion in 2022 and Carlos Alcaraz’s move from Racing Club in Argentina to Southampton for £12.5million in 2023 all have their genesis in TransferRoom. Viktor Gyokeres’ move from Coventry City to Sporting Lisbon in 2023 began when Hugo Viana contacted Coventry through TransferRoom Bournemouth signed Antoine Semenyo in January 2023 from Bristol City using TransferRoom TransferRoom’s breakdown of how Carlos Alcaraz’s move to Southampton came about, using their helpThe Madrid event is billed as ‘deal day’ because it is bang in the middle of the summer market. It was sold out, though some have access online. But other opportunist agents take the chance to hang around in the corridors to push their players to club executives.’I was shocked this even existed,’ said ex-player Kevin Prince-Boateng, now head of Rookie & Champ agency. ‘It’s like speed dating with transparency but you’re sitting across the table from major people who make decisions to get the next superstar.”It’s about getting the decisions here,’ says another executive. ‘After all, the nature is we don’t have time to waste.’