Finding the right players for your team can save the club millions and it can also lead to success, so it’s crazy that clubs decide to start there when they are making cuts.
Anybody can spot a great player after they’ve announced themselves on the world stage, so the key to scouting is to find someone like Erling Haaland when he’s cheaper at Molde rather than waiting until he’s a Champions League superstar before signing him.
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Arsenal are a team who have been built on finding excellent players at a young age – Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie and Patrick Vieira are prime examples of players who were signed for a low price before they became megastars.
Finding players like that takes immense planning and coverage of several countries, but that’s unlikely to happen now after Arsenal’s latest announcement:
#AFC UPDATE: Arsenal have let a further 10 scouts go.
Mackie, Daniels, Latimer ??
Alex Stafford ???????
Stephen Bradley ??
Ty Gooden ????
Julio de Marco ????
Leonardo Scirpoli ????
Hans Gillhaus ??
Alessandro Sbrizzo ????Details here for @TheAthleticUK:https://t.co/pvbqO59sXk
— gunnerblog (@gunnerblog) August 6, 2020
It will be interesting to see what Arsenal do going forward as advancements in technology do mean that scouting can be done remotely, but the camera only shows so much and actually being at a game allows you to see so much more.
These scouts covered the main countries in Europe so it will be a big loss, and Arsenal’s recruitment strategy will come under fire if they regress next year.