There’s no doubt Manchester City are one of the clubs with the biggest scouting network these days.
Trying to find youngsters with potential to develop under Pep Guardiola and his coaching network, the club has been keeping emissaries in several countries, having already started to make some of these arrivals concrete.
Just in South America, since Pep Guardiola’s arrival, Manchester City have signed Gabriel Jesus, Marlos Moreno and Douglas Luiz. Only the former Palmeiras player has debuted for the Premier League side so far, while the other two are currently on loan.
One of City’s South American scouts has been interviewed by ESPN Brasil this week. Carlos Eduardo Santoro spoke to the outlet during the II Debate Pense Bola in São Paulo, and gave a few details about how Manchester City have been choosing their targets.
“In the first season, Pep gathered all the scouts and said what he expected for each position,” Santoro told ESPN. “On top of that, we’ll unravel the technical, tactical, physical and mental characteristics. to analyse the character. The more information you have, the less chance of errors.”
Another factor helping Manchester City to sign youngsters is their partnership with Girona. By sending these players on a loan deal to the La Liga side, the Premier League club are able to follow their development closely, as well as having several loanees playing together.
“The idea is to stay in the top flight. Because we couldn’t sign a player of €12m to play in the second division,” says the scout about the Spanish club.
But there are also loanees at other clubs, and that’s when the scout take turns to watch them: “All scouts need to see two games of two different players on loan every month. The other month, two other players. For example, if we have a player on loan at Celtic, why am I going to buy another? If this guy doesn’t reach the level of the City, do we sell? That’s very important.
“Inside the club we have a manager of all players loaned. He compiles information so that every six months it’s delivered it to the director and the Manchester City manager.
“We can’t sign a European boy under 16 who is not English. We have many scouts scattered around to bring players of ages 11 and 12 to our academy. Phil Foden is a great example. He came at that age and debuted in the Champions League last week.”
It all sounds obsessive, and, consequently, like it’s putting Manchester City ahead of the game.
