Chapter 656 It’s worth it!
After hearing Yang Huan's question, Horabchin's eyes clearly showed a hint of helplessness, as if an ugly daughter-in-law had to meet her parents-in-law. After hesitating for a moment, he finally spoke.
"Chelsea's attitude was very tough at first, asking us to go to the Portuguese Super League, but we were worried that going to the Portuguese Super League would affect Oscar's position in the national team, so we refused."
Yang Huan nodded repeatedly. Even though Oscar's performance in his debut season in the Premier League could only be considered acceptable, he had established himself at Chelsea and was a main midfielder for the Brazilian national team. Would such a player leave the Premier League to play in the Portuguese Super League?
Unless you are mentally ill, who would agree to such a stupid thing?
Besides, the Brazil World Cup is approaching. If Oscar loses his starting position in the World Cup host Brazil team because of leaving the Premier League and joining the Portuguese Super League, it will be a huge loss both from a competitive and commercial perspective.
Therefore, letting Oscar go to the Portuguese Super League can only be regarded as Chelsea's wishful thinking.
Horabchin saw Master Huan's expression and saw that he seemed unmoved, and he understood in his heart.
He searched for teams in the middle and upper reaches of the Premier League, including Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. Although some teams were also interested in Oscar, most of them still adopted a strategy of waiting and watching.
The reason is simple, Chelsea's asking price is too high!
"I talked to Granovskia, and she told me that if Oscar doesn't want to go to the Portuguese Super League, that's fine. As long as we can find a team willing to pay Oscar a transfer fee of 20 million euros, Chelsea will let him go!"
Yang Huan frowned when he heard this. Twenty million euros?
When Chelsea first introduced Oscar, it spent a total of 25 million euros. Now, a year has passed, and they are asking for 20 million euros, which is not too outrageous. But the question is, is anyone willing to pay?
Judging from Oscar's performance in the Premier League last season, there were highlights, but the flaws were also obvious.
For example, his honesty and diligence, as well as his contributions on both offense and defense, but his low pass success rate is also quite fatal for a midfielder who plays a pivotal role.
From all indications, Oscar is not good at being a core player, but more of a deputy.
There is no shortage of such players in teams like Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City, and Southampton.
Is it worth spending 20 million euros for a substitute midfielder?
Yang Huan couldn't help but hesitate for a moment.
Even though he is rich, he doesn't want to be taken advantage of. He has to consider whether the money is worth spending, right?
Joorabchian had been keeping an eye on Master Huan, and when he saw the hesitation on his face, he couldn't help but glance at his partner Bertolucci.
Both of them seemed helpless because they had been rejected by many teams!
At this time, Bertolucci, who had been silent, spoke.
"I heard that Master Huan has always been very interested in youth training!"
Yang Huan raised his head, looked at the Brazilian super agent in front of him, and nodded, "Yes!"
Giuliano Bertolucci is an agent who has only risen in Brazil in recent years, but his momentum of rising is very fast. In addition, the former agent tycoon Figel and others have successively changed careers, and he has also started to cooperate with Joorabchian, so he naturally became the hottest agent in Brazil.
At present, almost all Brazilian players in the Premier League come from their team.
For example, William of Tottenham Hotspur, Ramires, Oscar, Lucas Piazon of Chelsea and so on.
"I believe that all clubs that value youth training will not ignore South America."
Bertolucci's words were once again recognized by Yang Huan.
It is well known in the world football that South America is rich in football talents.
Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay are all long-standing concentration camps of talent. In recent years, Colombia and Chile have also risen very rapidly, making South American players always occupy an important, even the most prominent position in world football.
For all teams that value youth training, who dares to ignore South America?
Bertolucci was encouraged when he saw Master Huan nod, and continued, "In Brazil, I am confident that I can help you get any player you like at the lowest price. In addition, we can also cooperate with you in more aspects, for example, helping Southampton set up a scout network in South America!"
I have to say, this one is really attractive.
In today's professional football world, the division of labor is becoming more and more detailed, and there are more and more types of work and categories. The human cost of club operations is rising steadily. It is quite expensive to establish and maintain a scout network.
Just like Ajax, in its early years, it was ambitious to go abroad and expand its youth training system to South America and Africa. At that time, Ajax even founded a football club in South Africa, which attracted the attention of the football world for a time.
But a few years have passed, and no one knows where the South American strategy has been thrown away. Ajax Cape Town is on the verge of bankruptcy, and Ajax itself is in trouble. In recent years, the budget for the scouting system has been cut, the African strategy has been abandoned, and the main focus has been put on the Netherlands and Northern Europe.
Just imagine, if even a veteran youth training team like Ajax cannot independently support a youth training system, how can other teams do it?
Looking at European football, no team's scouting network can cover every region.
So, what is the most typical approach?
Just like what Barcelona did, their scouting network is mainly concentrated in Spain, which is an important part of their entire scouting network, because the so-called household registration players are urgently needed by any team.
As for the selection of players from outside Spain, there are many ways. For example, some players recommend themselves. For example, Messi relied on his own connections to recommend himself to Barcelona for a trial and was accepted.
Another way is through recommendations from brokers or middlemen with whom we have cooperative relationships.
Interestingly, the identities of these middlemen are varied. Some are former Barcelona players, some are family members or friends of the players, and some are even recommended through various channels.
In short, there are all kinds of ways.
They have only one purpose in recommending players to Barcelona, that is, once the players they recommend pass the trial and are admitted, they can get a considerable introduction fee from Barcelona.
But don't underestimate this point, because for Barcelona, the introduction fee may be 10,000 or 20,000 euros, or even as little as a few thousand euros, which is very insignificant, but it is enough for ordinary people to support their family.
According to this model, in theory, Barcelona can spread its scouting network all over the world.
But this is only theory. In reality, it is very difficult. Barcelona also has its own professional full-time scout system, with about a dozen people, each responsible for a different area.
According to the process, a player's information is submitted to the Barcelona scouting department. After the initial review, Barcelona will first create a file and then arrange for its own professional scouts to conduct an inspection, or watch a few games, and some even conduct long-term follow-up inspections.
Once they pass the assessment, they will be invited to try out. If they meet some extremely talented ones, they may even be signed directly.
The advantage of such a scout network system is that the club does not have to invest much, but can have eyes all over the world. Once a new player emerges, the club can get the information first.
But there are definitely disadvantages.
Because these agents and middlemen are targeting the referral fee, they often adopt a cast-a-wide net approach, submitting letters of recommendation for players to multiple teams at the same time. As a result, it is easy for a player to emerge and be immediately targeted by a large group of European teams, or even rush to grab him.
Southampton's scouting network used to be mainly concentrated in the UK, but in the three years since Yang Huan took over the company, it has successively acquired Monaco and Atletico Madrid, completed the integration of scouting information, and the scouting network has begun to spread to the European continent.
The Saints' youth training model mainly adopts a similar operating model to Barcelona, but there are some differences.
That is the data-driven reform that Yang Huan has been promoting in the past!
The first is the recommendation stage. Everyone can recommend players to Southampton by installing Southampton’s mobile app, filling in detailed player recommendation information, and shooting player videos.
At Southampton, the club’s scouting department will have dedicated analysts responsible for tracking and analysis, conducting preliminary screening, providing timely feedback, and interacting with recommenders.
Currently in this regard, Southampton receives nearly a hundred player recommendations every day. If there are some major competitions, the number of player recommendations can reach over a thousand every day. Although the quality of the players varies, there are often some so-called "stars" that are eye-catching and attract the attention of Southampton's scout team.
What happens next is similar to the scouting operations of other teams such as Barcelona.
In addition to simplifying the referral process, Southampton is also promoting the partner model.
For example, in Argentina, Southampton has partnered with Cesarini Football Club.
Hearing this name, I'm afraid many people will feel unfamiliar. Its founder is former Argentine international Jorge Solari, the uncle of Argentine star Solari who once played for Real Madrid and Inter Milan, and the father-in-law of former world top midfielder Redondo.
The Cesarini Club is known as the West Point of Argentine football. It has trained Argentine internationals including Demichelis and Mascherano. The second and third generations of the Solari family also received training in this football school.
The current owner of 50% of the shares of this school is Messi!
The cooperation between Southampton and Cesarini is mainly in the fields of data-based training and analysis. Southampton helps Cesarini to conduct scientific analysis of training data to improve and perfect the training of young players, and the latter's training data and analysis results are open to Southampton.
This kind of cooperation is more beneficial to Southampton because the data obtained is more detailed, more conducive to long-term tracking, and the operating cost is quite low, which is an advantage that no other team's scout network can have.
More importantly, once these partners cooperate with Southampton, it will be difficult for them to cooperate with other teams.
With time, the advantages of Southampton's entire scouting network will be fully demonstrated.
Therefore, Southampton plans to make great efforts to expand its scouting network and find more high-quality partners in the next few years. The football kingdom of Brazil is undoubtedly the most important region besides European football and Argentina.
If we can have the assistance of Giuliano Bertolucci, who is familiar with the situation in Brazil, wouldn't it be more effective?
You know, Bertolucci makes his living in this field. Who knows Brazilian football better than him?
Thinking of this, Yang Huan couldn't help but laugh.
Isn't it just 20 million euros?
Not only can I win an Oscar, but I can also get the assistance of Bertolucci. It's worth it!
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