(ENG) The World of Scouting and the Opportunity of Navigating a System Full of Gray Areas

The global football market, excluding major global giants and clubs that make scouting a way of life, is a highly inefficient sector. This is not a critique of the international football movement but rather a warning to all professionals, industry insiders, and aspiring individuals involved in scouting and/or managing the technical area of a club.

This inefficiency presents an opportunity to find advantageous deals by discovering players who are undervalued and available at lower prices. If all clubs were rational and aware of this dynamic, the advantage would diminish. However, as in any sector, there is always a moment when a particular type of product or service offers the chance to capitalize on the situation.

Although system bugs can be discovered over time, making the market more efficient and thus harder to exploit, the bug in the football market has expanded due to the COVID-19 pandemic (although it was already present before). This has allowed those who were prepared to benefit significantly, acquiring players at favorable prices who would otherwise not have been accessible.

This is an important opportunity for anyone, including you who have reached the end of this book in search of a life-changing opportunity. The time is favorable from many perspectives, and many smart clubs are looking to take advantage of this situation to gain a significant edge and turn their fortunes around, as demonstrated by Atalanta. To do this, motivated and skilled professionals are needed to improve recruitment and selection, allowing the club to make the most of these opportunities.

Monitoring the market alone is not enough, as its dynamics are complex. However, studying its rationality and flaws can provide a concrete opportunity to leverage its general inefficiency through scouting.

The Role of Scouting in This Process

Market inefficiency allows for the acquisition of undervalued players relative to their actual potential. Scouting plays a fundamental role in identifying these system flaws and gaining a competitive advantage, often in contrast to the perceived value of the player.

Data and contexts are diverse, and our management as scouts is crucial in detecting these opportunities. Regardless of the strategy or method applied, the difference lies in our ability to apply the three tenets of observation:

1. Evaluation and recognition of current quality.

2. Assessment of improvement potential.

3. Evaluation of residual talent/potential.

These tenets are crucial for correctly evaluating a player in any circumstance and context.

Such analyses allow us to directly and precisely detect the information needed to identify the low-cost acquisition our club requires. Market inefficiency lies in the ability to interpret qualitative situations and circumstances beyond market valuations, focusing on the functionality that the missing “piece” can bring.

Strategies can be many, and it is not enough to focus only on players who are discounted after a negative season. Opportunities also lie in lower divisions, where the level of professionals is often lower. Many players arrive late to Serie A because they are not closely observed in lower leagues or youth competitions.

Examples like Ciccio Caputo and Giovanni Di Lorenzo show that a player can be without a team not due to their own shortcomings but due to approximate evaluations based on unimpressive data. This happens because sporting directors and head scouts often assess prospects based on the context rather than the player’s true technical value.

This is a significant opportunity, as shown by Brentford in England, which reached the Premier League by exploiting market inefficiency.

The same applies to players recovering from serious injuries or making poor market choices. Many become “market pariahs” and are willing to do anything to return to play, but no one wants them. However, with the right skills, it is possible to defuse this market bug and turn it into an ally.

In conclusion, scouting is a powerful tool for leveraging the inefficiency of the football market and finding advantageous opportunities, significantly improving the recruitment and selection process for clubs.

Stefano Perna