Club scouts don’t speak too often, but the Manchester United official Jorge Alvial has given a nice interview to EMOL.
The Chilean scout was a personal request of Jose Mourinho as they had previously worked together at Chelsea. Now he’s responsible for keeping an eye on every Manchester United target in South America, which if half the links are to be believed is quite some job.
That’s when the partnership with Mourinho started. “I had the pleasure to meet him at that moment. The truth is there was always a great professionalism.”
The scout was responsible for suggesting the name of Cristian Cuevas, who signed for Mourinho’s Chelsea from O’Higgins in 2013 and is currently on loan at Sint-Truiden.
“I had the pleasure to meet him at that moment. Truth is there was always a great professionalism.”
Speaking of his work for Manchester United, Alvial revealed the club’s preferences when scouting South American players: “My work consists in finding an elite player for the first team in the Americas. We, scouts, always notify the club’s chief scouts, and we also have meetings with Mourinho. The age range we look for is between 17 and 24, unless we see a Pelé, Maradona, Messi, Ronaldo or Cruyff.”
Commenting on Jose Mourinho, the scout uses the quote from one of the Manchester United manager’s old players to describe him: “A very important player once told me: ‘Even though you don’t know if you’re playing on Sunday or not, with this manager you always feel as the most important’. He treats his players extraordinarily and he’s an expert because he’s always learning.”
Mourinho has continued to up the scouting system at Manchester United, a process which has been going on sir Alex Ferguson left the club.
