FC Utrecht’s Scouting team has to face the challenges of having big goals with limited resources. This means making the most out of the tools they have, finding help in video and data to unearth players in new leagues and territories.
When dealing with a restricted budget, recruitment departments have to plan scouting travels wisely, setting a clean framework to maximize time and money investments. Without the same allocations as bigger clubs like Ajax and PSV, FC Utrecht’s Chief Scout Alje Schut must evaluate every scouting opportunity thoroughly.
“In the domestic league, we know everybody, we watch all the games”, said Schut. “But we don’t have the biggest budget in the country, so we can't allow to go one month to Spain and watch every game. It’s too expensive.
So what we do is first to make a Shadow Team of interesting players of the league [on Wyscout]. We do that through the video and the stats. Then we call the agents, asking them what the conditions of the transfers would be and if the players are interested. Finally, we get a shortlist of 10-12 players that we think are interesting and so we pick specific matches to scout live during the week.”
Video and stats can also help when scouting new territories and new leagues, where the club has little knowledge or no knowledge at all. As Schut’s team has no time or money to waste, they often prefer to check players through data when approaching an unknown market.
“I like to watch rankings on Wyscout, just to check leagues that I don’t normally follow like, for example, the Slovakian league. We’re not that big to scout there, so I check the rankings and I try to find - let’s say - the 10 best left-backs of the Slovakian league on Wyscout, based on data. It helps us create a certain filter because we can’t be there all the time and the human eye can’t see everything.
You want to get certain security on a player by checking data. Sometimes, you didn’t see a player or maybe he didn’t stand out during the games you watched, but the data says he’s an interesting player. So, you get back to the footage. You watch him again and again, and sometimes you have certain players that you missed by seeing them live but you get them through data.”
FC Utrecht’s Scouting Department surely faces big challenges day after day, and for them is critical to have all the tools they need at hand.
“We were looking for the whole package and Wyscout provides that for us”, confirmed Schut.
“Especially because, as I said, we’re not a Premier League team, we’re not a LaLiga team, we don’t have unlimited funds. For us it’s really good to have one partner that has it all. And for us, that’s Wyscout”.
Check out the new Wyscout Scouting Area HERE
