A lot of fans will presume that every club have an army of scouts who know everything about every player, and it means they can’t miss out on the next big thing.
The reality is astonishingly different, with professional clubs relying on volunteers who end up out of pocket and having to juggle the role with a real full time job – something I know only too well.
The reason it’s so bewildering is clubs will spend so much money on things like 4th choice goalkeepers, but scouting is about to become much more important.
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When clubs don’t have so much money to spend they can’t just go out and buy ready made stars – they need to find them and make them – and that can’t happen without a formidable scouting department.
Barcelona made an announcement this week that they were cutting their scouting department in half, and now it sounds like Arsenal are going the same way.
As reported by the Daily Mail, Arsenal will be cutting 10 scouts in a cost cutting measure which is understandable, but could seriously affect them in the long term.
The Gunners don’t have the money to compete with the elite clubs so good recruitment is vital, and it’s going to be even more important in the next few years.
Their squad needs an overhaul and that means they need to identify the right players to fit into Mikel Arteta’s vision, and it could be a huge problem if they get it wrong.
It’s not ridiculous to say that a couple of years of bad recruitment could complete Arsenal’s transformation into an average mid table side, and this decision will not help them.