Football scouts are an important part of elite sport. They are professionals, also called scouts, who are in charge of spotting talent at the lower levels. Both players and scouting companies need and feed off each other. Therefore, it is necessary to know first-hand what football scouts look for in football players for their teams.
Qualities sought after by football scouts
A football player must have many requirements in terms of tactics, technique, positioning and quality. Football scouts are specialists in detecting quality. It is necessary to maximise the player’s performance in order to make the leap to the elite. Knowing what football scouts are looking for is key to this. You must keep in mind that you also have to meet the following expectations
Skills and physique
Football scouts look for players with innate ball skills. They look at different details depending on the player’s position. A midfielder will need to be cautious and put the ball at the foot of a team-mate, while a winger will need to be able to dribble and dribble to impress the scout.
Another very important detail is physical ability. Football scouts tend to highlight those players who demonstrate a greater build or height. Short or slim players should always show better attention-grabbing skills. Clear examples are Messi or Griezmann, who were rejected because of their height and ended up in the elite despite this.
Leadership and mental toughness
A footballer must not only show that he is skilful with the ball at his feet. The mental attitude on the pitch is crucial and football scouts know this first hand. The player must show that he has hierarchy and leadership, commanding on the pitch and bringing out character to lead his teammates.
Another key aspect for football scouts is mental toughness. Getting down after a mistake or conceding a goal is often detrimental to a player. On the other hand, scouts appreciate it when a player comes back for the ball after a mistake or does not get discouraged after a bad result. The elite is mentally tough and only the best players can be part of it. Psychoanalysis will be present throughout the process and the investigation of the player’s environment.
Become a professional footballer in Spain at SIA Academy
Soccer Inter-Action’s international football academy prepares the player to demonstrate his full potential to football scouts. SIA Academy also conducts professional football trials in Spain where a large number of scouts keep an eye on the players present. This is one of the ways you can get in touch with scouts.
Professional football trials
The professional football trials that take place at Soccer Inter-Action have a handful of Spanish football scouts around them. These scouts keep an eye on the training sessions and matches to take the most qualified players so that they can succeed in the professional game. They are usually teams of people from higher league clubs.
All of them offer opportunities to earn a salary in Spanish football. Soccer Inter-Action maximises the performance of each player based on big data. In this way, the an have all the details of the player to be able to choose the best talent in SIA Academy. Technology is present throughout the whole process.
Scouting functions
In the international market, those involved in bringing in foreign players first do some screening before moving. Searching for players outside of one’s own country involves travelling once a lot of prior information is taken into account. There are many programs and software that help to find diamonds in the rough, to take advantage of this and to choose which players to watch and why. They are supported by scouts who are also data specialists. They analyse data and targets of the club. They are office scouts who must know the club’s game model very well in order to perform their role correctly and the right Big Data from which to extract information.
The area coordinator or scouting coordinator who is in charge of reaching a consensus and deciding what needs the club they work for has and designating the rest of the scouts the route to follow.there are scoutings specialised in a category that knows perfectly well the needs that those leagues have, focusing only on that niche. they use different methodologies.
Scouts at SIA Academy
In addition to professional football trials, Soccer Inter-Action’s international school offers the opportunity to shine on the best pitches. Friendly matches against Levante UD or at Valencia CF’s Ciudad Deportiva allow scouts from Spain’s top football clubs to watch SIA Academy players.
Soccer Inter-Action’s first team, UD SIA Benigànim, competes in the RFEF Third Division against Valencia Club de Fútbol, Villarreal CF, Elche CF, CD Castellón and Hércules CF. Big football clubs that have many scouts around them or representation agencies and that allow them to make the leap to a higher category, even to the First Division.