Hunting hidden gems - is there anywhere in the world left to scout?
Summary
Football clubs use many tools like video scouting, live scouting, data analysis, and artificial intelligence to find young talented players worldwide. Because of these tools, it is now harder to find unknown "hidden gem" players. One example is Dario Osorio, a young player tracked for years before moving to Europe.Key Facts
- Dario Osorio, 19, moved from Chile to Denmark to join Midtjylland before going on loan to Crystal Palace.
- Crystal Palace has an option to buy Osorio for £24 million, which would be a record sale for the Danish Superliga.
- Midtjylland uses a mix of traditional scouting and data analytics to find and recruit talent.
- Modern scouting covers over 400,000 young players globally, including those aged 13 to 21.
- The scouting platform Eyeball is used by more than 60% of clubs in Europe’s top leagues and many Premier League teams.
- Players like Malick Yalcouye and Bazoumana Toure were tracked early through data and video analysis before joining major clubs.
- Detailed data points such as progressive passes and distance covered are collected in matches to evaluate players.
- Despite the use of data, scouts still apply personal judgment to make decisions on player recruitment.
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