Scouting is a competitive business, and finding the right talent to follow at a young age isn’t as easy as it sounds, even if many think they’d probably be quite good at it.
Of course, there are always stand out players, but even the best scout in the world cannot predict the future, how the player’s surroundings will affect him, and so on.
This is why, trying to figure out how the likes of Manchester United or Paris Saint-Germain try and find the next ‘Anthony Martial’ or the next ‘Dimitri Payet’, L’Equipe went to speak to some of them to find out.
One scout, who wanted to remain anonymous, spoke about how they go about their business, and how being a ‘star’ at a young age doesn’t automatically mean a bright future.
He explained: “We all know that with every generation, there will be a ‘top player’. Our job is to be clear-sighted. Sometimes, there are real surprises. In the 1995 generation, for example, there was Anthony Martial. You could see his talent, but he wasn’t a perfect player.
“The star of his generation, it wasn’t him or Adrien Rabiot. Today, Martial is at Manchester United while his ‘star’ teammate at the time only plays in the reserves of a big team… Our job is to predict that.”
Such stories are always reminiscent of Cristiano Ronaldo’s words about one of his teammates when he was at Sporting CP: “If you think I’m good, you should see Fabio Paim”.
Where is Fabio Paim now? Unattached after being released from Kayl-Tétange in Luxembourg.
