WHO IS A FOOTBALL SCOUT A football scout is a profession in the game of football who attends football matches on the behalf of their clubs to search and discover talents or collect intelligence . Primarily, there are two types of scouts; tactical scouts and player scouts.
1.Tactical scouts: this type of scouts focuses solely on the tactical aspects of the game, which includes studying the teams strength and weakness as well as the oppositions strength and weakness. His mainly objective is to figure out the exact style or play that will suit his team and worry the opposition.
2.Player scouts: this is also known as physical scouts evaluate upcoming talents with view of signing them on professional contracts for their employees. Some scouts focus on discovering promising young players and future stars .he must also identify the kind of players that his team is lacking may it goal scorers ,midfielders ,defenders and goalkeepers.
FINDING PLAYERS
A player scout typically attends as many football matches to evaluate unknown potential youngsters. Scouts who wish to identify promising young players attend lower-league club games where there is high possibility of under-16, 18 and 21 international tournaments. Scouts may also receive tips from agents of players or families of the player. it has become quite common to use online tools like youtube.com or transfermarket.com to find football players.
ROLE OF FOOTBALL SCOUTS IN
PLAYER TRANSFORMATION PROCESS: FROM TALENTED TO ELITE ATHLETE
On the first evaluation, player scouts determine whether a player has the desired technical attributes to succeed at the sport. They then highlight this player to the club management. Some of the desired attributes that scouts look in players include:
Goalkeepers: Good jumping, one-on-one ability, command of the penalty area and aerial intelligence, communication with defence ,good reflexes
Centre-backs :Leadership, good heading and tackling ability, height, bravery in attempting challenges, concentration.
Full-backs :reliability in keeping with opposition players, stamina, anticipation ,pace, tackling and marking abilities, work rate and team responsibility.
Central midfielders: movement, stamina, passing ability, team responsibility, positioning, marking abilities.
Wingers:speed, pace, technical ability like dribbling and close control, off-the-ball intelligence, creativity.
Forwards: finishing ability, composure, technical ability, heading ability, pace, off-the-ball intelligence
Once a player has been recommended to a club, the club may continue to monitor his progress over a few seasons. Scout continuos to watch the player and evaluateb whether a player has turned in consistent performances.
When the club is satisfied with that player, the club may then invite the player to attend a trial at the club, where scouts and coaching staff evaluate the player's suitability for the club in terms of his personality and training attitude. Clubs also tend to perform background checks on the player. A trial at the club allows the club to evaluate the standard of the player against players already on its roster.Once the player has passed these evaluations, the club then starts negotiation