Porto have 250 scouts, how many do Spurs have?
The scouting at Tottenham has been very poor and it is believed we were using agencies to find us players at one point, there are rumours that Paulinho was found by an agency to our specifications, how true that is I don't know.
Damien Comolli I believe had his own scouting network that worked for him, thus he would have taken them with him when he left. Was there a void at Tottenham since then until the appointment of Mitchell? The question has to be asked why our scouting was so poor for a while, the next couple of season will determine whether it has improved.
Paul Mitchell has come to Spurs and found he has got to build a scouting network, only so much can be done by data analysis in a room. Today any game recorded can be analysed by anyone with the software. Personal contact will always remain important, people buy from people, they deal with the people they like.
In Spain, an area we should be looking for youth players given the way they are brought up in the Spanish style, we have appointed two scouts, I say Spain, they cover and Portugal, which leads me to looking at what Portuguese club Porto do.
Porto have 250 scouts, Celtic have 6 but a bigger wage bill apparently. How many do Tottenham have? a scout doesn't have to be full time indeed many work for several clubs at once. They take the criteria of a player a club is looking for and make their recommendations when they find then, much like a one man agency. Using agents in that manner you cut down your wage bill but you are diluting the service you get.
I must stress that they can buy a percentage of a player, they do not have to buy the whole player as we do in the Premier League, they can purchase 33% for instance or 50% and then only receive the relevant amount of any transfer fee, the rest going to the third party owners. Having found a player it isn't a level playing field when it come to buying them, especially if they come from South America where they want to make a move to a club to raise their profile before a big money move.
Porto general director Antonio Henrique has spoken to France Football about the clubs scouting.
That sounds similar to where Spurs are now if you look at our recruitment policy of players under 27, in actual fact we have been buying players more around the 23 mark. Players at that age have more playing years and despite fans not wanting to hear it, have a greater chance of providing a financial return in addition to what they may provide on the field. Charlie Austin is 26 and at 30 players value dips significantly as their career has only a few years left. He isn't a good buy if we want a return on our investment, which every club does, even Chelsea. The fact he is too slow and has injury issues arguably makes him a poor buy in footballing terms anyway.
Henrique also made points about the importance of extensive scouting, explaining how players are scrutinised before any possible transfer. This is an area regular readers will know I have criticised at Spurs, suggesting we should be assessing players mentally as well as for their footballing ability. Buying a player with the right mentality is just as important as buying a quality player because if you put the two together then the sky's the limit for that player.
How Porto operate will be no different from many teams, you only have to look at the number of players who are scouted to see clubs keeping tabs on a player for years. We followed Eric Dier for a number of years before we signed him and naturally spoke to him during that time so he knew of our interest.
That is quite natural and normal, it goes on all the time at every club, although some like Standard Liege are taking steps to try and limit it, but that's another article. There has been a restructuring at Spurs and the scouting department, if it can be called that, is evolving and may take time to perfect, given Mitchell seems to be starting from almost scratch.
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Damien Comolli I believe had his own scouting network that worked for him, thus he would have taken them with him when he left. Was there a void at Tottenham since then until the appointment of Mitchell? The question has to be asked why our scouting was so poor for a while, the next couple of season will determine whether it has improved.
Paul Mitchell has come to Spurs and found he has got to build a scouting network, only so much can be done by data analysis in a room. Today any game recorded can be analysed by anyone with the software. Personal contact will always remain important, people buy from people, they deal with the people they like.
In Spain, an area we should be looking for youth players given the way they are brought up in the Spanish style, we have appointed two scouts, I say Spain, they cover and Portugal, which leads me to looking at what Portuguese club Porto do.
Porto have 250 scouts, Celtic have 6 but a bigger wage bill apparently. How many do Tottenham have? a scout doesn't have to be full time indeed many work for several clubs at once. They take the criteria of a player a club is looking for and make their recommendations when they find then, much like a one man agency. Using agents in that manner you cut down your wage bill but you are diluting the service you get.
I must stress that they can buy a percentage of a player, they do not have to buy the whole player as we do in the Premier League, they can purchase 33% for instance or 50% and then only receive the relevant amount of any transfer fee, the rest going to the third party owners. Having found a player it isn't a level playing field when it come to buying them, especially if they come from South America where they want to make a move to a club to raise their profile before a big money move.
Porto general director Antonio Henrique has spoken to France Football about the clubs scouting.
"Porto's success rests on three assumptions: recruitment, development and yield. Recruitment links with scouting, development is linked with training and productivity is linked with the performance of the player in the first team. Most players are young when they come to our club and end up being in training permanently."
That sounds similar to where Spurs are now if you look at our recruitment policy of players under 27, in actual fact we have been buying players more around the 23 mark. Players at that age have more playing years and despite fans not wanting to hear it, have a greater chance of providing a financial return in addition to what they may provide on the field. Charlie Austin is 26 and at 30 players value dips significantly as their career has only a few years left. He isn't a good buy if we want a return on our investment, which every club does, even Chelsea. The fact he is too slow and has injury issues arguably makes him a poor buy in footballing terms anyway.
Henrique also made points about the importance of extensive scouting, explaining how players are scrutinised before any possible transfer. This is an area regular readers will know I have criticised at Spurs, suggesting we should be assessing players mentally as well as for their footballing ability. Buying a player with the right mentality is just as important as buying a quality player because if you put the two together then the sky's the limit for that player.
"We work with 250 scouts around the world in countries that make sense for football, because we will not send anyone to Bangladesh.
"We have internal and external scouts, which are divided into several levels of observation, which allows a player to be viewed by several people.
"They work with a shadow team, which is a set of players who are identified from various leagues, who are capable of being hired by Porto."
How Porto operate will be no different from many teams, you only have to look at the number of players who are scouted to see clubs keeping tabs on a player for years. We followed Eric Dier for a number of years before we signed him and naturally spoke to him during that time so he knew of our interest.
That is quite natural and normal, it goes on all the time at every club, although some like Standard Liege are taking steps to try and limit it, but that's another article. There has been a restructuring at Spurs and the scouting department, if it can be called that, is evolving and may take time to perfect, given Mitchell seems to be starting from almost scratch.
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