Bayern Munich technical director Michael Reschke says his club do not make "super transfers" like Real Madrid.

Real Madrid have made big money deals for Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and James Rodriguez. Madrid have broken five of the last six world transfer records in signing Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Kaka, Ronaldo and Bale.

"Bayern invest a lot of money in signings, but not the same size as Madrid," Reschke said. "Such super transfers do not fit with the club's philosophy. The biggest fee we have paid was for Javi Martinez [€40 million] in 2012. Bayern have a very clear philosophy, and we will keep to that path."

Reschke predicted fewer big money transfers in coming years.

"The economic gap is the biggest reason," he said. "The second is that the big clubs are operating all the time in a more professional way.

"Last year we had a transfer of over €100m, [Paul] Pogba, and maybe we could put [Gonzalo] Higuain close to this with €90m. But I predict less transfers of this size. Because the top clubs are all the time selling fewer top players. They only move when their contracts end -- like [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic and [Dani] Alves...

"Maybe you can buy someone when they reach the last year of their contract. The best players are at Juventus, Real, Barcelona, Atletico [Madrid] and the top teams in England, Munich, [Borussia] Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain... These players make the difference.

"Sooner or later, in the biggest games, they are decisive. It is impossible, even with a very well organised team, to counteract this quality. We will see this year what happens with Monaco [in the Champions League]. That could be an exception. They have very good players and some who could develop to the very top level."

Brentford has made the unconventional decision to end their academy in order to develop players from the Premier League who are undervalued.

Their target players are between 17 and 20 and have been released by academies in the Premier League or are from overlooked markets.

“The first year is just the start-up stage but we’ve achieved more in terms of players making debuts than we believed we would, although we have also made mistakes in other areas,” says head of football operations Robert Rowan, who, at 24, was promoted to his current role when Mark Warburton left to join Rangers in 2015. “In the summer it was a new system and our model wasn’t really attractive to players because it was seen as a bit of a gamble. Now we’ve had one year of a very good games programme and a very efficient pathway which means we can clearly present how we develop players and the opportunities we can provide. The big challenge now is the turnover – if we do promote players and there are players out of contract, the next part of the job is bringing that new batch in so the cycle of recruitment is back to the start but the expectations in quality are a lot higher.

“We have a good understanding of what kind of player can be successful in England. Part of our recruitment process is identifying different leagues where the physical qualities are often overlooked in favour of the tactical qualities, whereas in England if you are physical you have a good chance of being a good player. The tactical side of things can be taught and we are confident we can provide an environment where they can learn those skills. It’s a lot easier in those undervalued markets to take a player and put him into our environment for the longer term. Our job is improving the understanding of all the markets that are out there and trying to identify potential stars.”

The academy was costing around £2 million per year and Brentford decided it was too much risk since there is so much competition.

While owner Matthew Benham has rejected comparisons with the Moneyball approach made famous by Billy Beane at the Oakland As, the use of analytics remains a significant part of their approach. “I can’t really say too much – they’ll probably kill me!” Rowan says, laughing. “A lot of people seem to think this place is full of robots providing the recipe for success but there is no secret formula. The fact our directors of football have expertise in business means probably we are more process-driven than your average club.

“We’re fortunate with our owner’s background that we have access to resources that most clubs won’t have. What’s important is how we use those resources. We’ve spent time trying to understand that but we have got to a point now where we feel far more comfortable over how to use it all correctly. Hopefully we can start to reap some rewards now.”