BERLIN, Germany -- In the Estrel Hotel, a 20-minute drive to the southeast of the German capital, in a room filled with 160 numbered desks, officials from more than 300 clubs and representatives of more than 80 agencies are gathered to talk transfers.
There are owners and general managers, sporting directors and scouts, agents and data analysts. All of them arranging and engaging in 15-minute, face-to-face meetings with the goal of getting ahead of the game before the summer transfer window opens. "I say to my wife it's like speed dating," says Luke Sassano, chief scout at Major League Soccer's Nashville SC.