One thought I had - as we are buying a lot of players from Spain, are we only using Spanish scouts to check out these players?
The reason I ask is that I sometimes wonder if those foreign league scouts have the knowledge of how different and demanding the PL is.
I mean, I would prefer someone who has in dept knowledge of the game in the PL to scout our new players, and preferably not someone who has a background from another league. Sure, spanish scouts have the best knowledge about Spain and the footy there, but what do they know about the PL. A player can be a stand out in Spain but could be torn to pieces here - Luque, Moro.
This is usually the argument for buying PL players instead of foreigners, but most of the best talent is foreign so we need to work on how we assess players.
Of course, a good scout can recognise class when they see it, but to be able to play here you also need another set of attributes that are not that evident and easily seen in other leagues with less physicality and tempo.
I think we can also be honest enough to say that this is one thing that Rafa struggled with, especially the first season he had here - he underestimated how different play is here.
I hope we can avoid more buys that can't deal with our league, aka Morientes, now that we have serious cash to spend.
The reason I ask is that I sometimes wonder if those foreign league scouts have the knowledge of how different and demanding the PL is.
I mean, I would prefer someone who has in dept knowledge of the game in the PL to scout our new players, and preferably not someone who has a background from another league. Sure, spanish scouts have the best knowledge about Spain and the footy there, but what do they know about the PL. A player can be a stand out in Spain but could be torn to pieces here - Luque, Moro.
This is usually the argument for buying PL players instead of foreigners, but most of the best talent is foreign so we need to work on how we assess players.
Of course, a good scout can recognise class when they see it, but to be able to play here you also need another set of attributes that are not that evident and easily seen in other leagues with less physicality and tempo.
I think we can also be honest enough to say that this is one thing that Rafa struggled with, especially the first season he had here - he underestimated how different play is here.
I hope we can avoid more buys that can't deal with our league, aka Morientes, now that we have serious cash to spend.
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