AZ Gull
@SeagullsAcademy @seagullsacademy.bsky.social
Just as a matter of interest, how do we find out about a 16-year old at Malmo? Do we have scouts in every European country? Do we monitor press reports of every youth game played in the world? Does someone from Malmo recommend him to teams across Europe? It does intrigue me how clubs pick up kids so young.
I'm sure our scouting network is pretty wide, yes. We have signed a lot of Scandinavian youngsters over the last few years so we obviously have a significant presence in that area, but I'm sure if a lad shows promise, even as early as 9 or 10, he will be widely known about by most professional clubs.
At a first-team level, shortly after we had signed Izquierdo there was an article in the Argus saying that we had "looked at" over 1,000 strikers; the number for wide players was 874. 300 player reports are compiled every week.
Also, our age-teams often play in tournaments around Europe. An U-16/U-15 squad typically plays in the Rey Cup in Iceland every July; in 2019-20 our U15s/U-14s have been to Spain, an U-14/U-13 squad went to Finland and so on. Obviously such tournaments will give an opportunity to see other young players from various club sides and academies across the continent - I'm sure we don't let such information go to waste.