Arsenal has just made some members of their staff redundant and in a separate restructuring job, the Gunners have also fired their scouts including, Francis Cagigao, who discovered the likes of Hector Bellerin, Cesc Fabregas and Gabriel Martinelli.
He worked for the club for more than a decade and his dismissal is one that has sparked reactions from the club’s ex-players as well as pundits.
Cesc Fabregas is the latest ex-Gunner who has talked about the issue and he paid tributes to the scouts who thought he was a star in the future and advised Arsenal to poach him from Barcelona’s La Masia when he was still very much a youngster.
He wrote per the Mail: ‘Thank you for the 24+ years of devotion, respect, loyalty and love you gave to @Arsenal. Nothing would have been the same for me if you didn’t spot me at 15 years old.
‘I wish you all the very best for the future. Your next team will be very lucky to have your football brain.’
The firing of the scouts shows that Arsenal is switching from a scout-based system of recruitment that has worked so well for them over the years and they are now more focused on signing players based on the recommendation from agents.
I really don’t know what all the fuss is, what can scouts actually do with no access to watching players live in the stadium, obviously their role has become redundant ergo no job for them, all this agent recommendation crap, we still have scouts at the club just not as many as before, does anyone really believe Raul will just call up one of his mates & say Kia I need a new CB do you know any who are left footed & a good price that might want to come to Arsenal, let’s be real here that’s not the club are doing, I mean who hadn’t heard of Luiz, Soares or even this Gabriel previously, it winds me up that so many fans think suddenly Raul will just be using his little black book to sign players, Arsenal is a huge multi billion pound business, of course we will still scout players & use the StatDNA data to make decisions, THEN & only then would an agent get involved,if the reality is what people are saying I find it ridiculous & nonsensical from wherever I stand, come on everyone we won’t just sign players now & in the future based on who their agent is, just think about it for 60 seconds, YES it’s ludicrous to even suggest IMO
@deanolovesafc, your comment is a good illustration of how we don’t see things in the same light and therefore have different opinions. If you genuinely think that scouting is a redundant craft then I’m glad you’re not a part of the AFC hierarchy.
This is why Wenger was so adamant on not doing business with super-agents. I hope to see your opinion 5 year’s down the line if we do really let go of the scouting team and adopt the new “begging for scraps” from agents ways of doing business. I mean if the rich clubs owned by multibillionaire’s have a scouting network and AFC was envied for having one of the best around.
Yes Sabs, we are being run by agents, just look at the dross Kia and Co have landed us with. Also if the cost of Luiz is to be believed, a major part of his £24 million cost went into his super agents back pocket. We’ve gone from scouting, stats, data etc to contacts based recruitment through Raul and Edu’s agent pals.
@Declan, Raul makes Gazidis look like a God sent angel. This leech is gonna run our beloved club to the ground.
😂😂 you’re right though 👍
Deano, your thoughts that “Raul will just phone up one of his mates & say Kia I need a new CB…..” is a real concern. This is why Sven Mislantat, not known as “diamond eye” for no reason, walked away from the Club.
As for Francis Cagagao, not only did he identify the players mentioned, but recommended a young Lionel Messi at the same time as Fabregas; however Arsenal could only afford one.
Reliance on agents has the potential for clubs to be pushed certain players, that other clubs want to move on with agent trying to maximise their fees. Coutinho comes to mind.
Covid19 and the closure of grounds to spectators and scouts will not last forever. In the interim scouts still have access to video of games and players. It will be extremely short-sighted for Arsenal to place all their eggs in the agent basket, due to the influence of agents trying to maximise their pay day rather than the best interest of the Club.
Our club has the potential to be great once again but looks more and more like a pipe dream with these new morons, Raul and Vinai, at the helm.
They went and signed Denis Suarez when all the data suggested that they shouldn’t. They overruled Unai and paid record fee for a winger when the manager was crying for CDM and CB.
The list just keeps growing by the day, one blunder after another and then us fans complain and blame Kroenke for not investing in the club. The one thing our owner is guilty of in my book is the hiring of the wrong personnel at the helm. Gazidis was ok-ish, I mean he got us good sponsorship deals from time to time. These new guys, Raul and Vinai, are gonna sink us further into the abyss coupled with financial ruin. That scenario will hopefully devalue our club and force Kroenke out and we get ourselves an owner that cares and does things right.
After discovering Fabregas, how many more exciting talented youngsters did they discover? 55 people paid for doing nothing. Arsenal is not a charity organization. They need to bring in talented players for them to get paid
Not so much kids ,(well some).
This scout Francis Cagaggio brought in (look at Monreals insta post)
Monreal
Saliba
Carlos Vela
Cesc
Hleb
Martenelli
Sanchez
Lauren
Van Persie
Bellerin
Santi
Reyes
I’d say yes we need scouts and I’m worried how we are being run by AGENTS! Raul is sinking this ship. To contradict myself Wolves are ran by agents and league they are better than is (this season).
I laughed at your comment. I an ordinary fan knew Hleb in playing days for Stugart before we signed him. The same can be said of Santi when he was with Villarreal. We were linked to him before he was signed up by Malaga. You hardly need any scout for such players. They were already an household names when we signed them with Moreal.
So far Kia has convinced Raul to bring Saurez, Soares, Luiz and now Willan, with potentially Coutinho to follow. All these players have Kia Joorabchain as their agent and how much has Arsenal paid for these players and how much has he earnt from the deals?
That as they say ozziegunner is the $64000 dollar question that we would all l8e to know the answer to.
*like not l8e 🤪
Declan, it’s probably a lot more than 64,000, whether that be $, € or £! 😒🤔