Should we scout for strikers from lower leagues?

[Sarni]

Then we need to improve our scouting? Look at Brentford finding PL level strikers on the cheap. Watkins and Toney would walk into our team to this day. Even fecking Maupay would have played a lot for us last season. There’s no point in us shopping at the top table once the player is a fully known quantity because if they are truly top class they are most likely going to choose Madrid Barca or Bayern over us. We aren’t the draw we once were. We can’t get any edge like that apart from the fact that we are prepared to give big wages but at that point big wages are a given and other factors come into play.

I don’t think you can really ‘improve’ your scouting to a point where you’d be casually buying a Sturm Graz striker on the back of a handful of games. It’s like saying we should have bought Lewandowski when he was at Lech Poznan, if you do that there are no guarantees that the player will follow a similar development path to the one he is on if he moves to a smaller club and becomes a regular there.

We do sign a huge number of youth players before they are picked up by other clubs though. Our academy is full of them. It’s just that they usually don’t work out to a point where they can contribute to the first team, and for the last few years we haven’t really had a habit of giving them a chance anyway. I don’t think it’s going to change anytime soon as ETH is not the type of a manager to rotate or give heavy minutes to inexperienced young players, which is even more of a reason why signing random players from smaller leagues is probably not the best idea as they won’t play anyway.

 

[roonster09]

Then we need to improve our scouting? Look at Brentford finding PL level strikers on the cheap. Watkins and Toney would walk into our team to this day. Even fecking Maupay would have played a lot for us last season. There’s no point in us shopping at the top table once the player is a fully known quantity because if they are truly top class they are most likely going to choose Madrid Barca or Bayern over us. We aren’t the draw we once were. We can’t get any edge like that apart from the fact that we are prepared to give big wages but at that point big wages are a given and other factors come into play.

If our aim is to finish in the places these clubs finish, then yes we have to sign players they sign before they are proven.

Even with their very good seasons, for them finishing top 10 is an good season. For us, the worst season we finish 6th. That's because clubs have different expectations and the level of players we try to sign is different. Most big clubs sign proven players, the team with lower budget takes chances on young potential players. When the player is good, big clubs try to sign them.

We can't just name the success stories and keep saying "why didn't we sign them". Name alone won't carry the club to finish in top 4 or top 6, we need good players and our players are proven that they are good enough to carry us to certain position but we need upgrade on them to finish even higher.

 

[Adebisi's Hat]

Even fecking Maupay would have played a lot for us last season.

Hold your horses there, he was truly awful for Everton, i'd keep Weggy ahead of him.

 

[onemanarmy]

Gift Orban - Gent - I love this dude, he will be the next big thing

Yep and given his rumoured release clause is under 20mil I'm surprised we don't take a chance, has great off the ball movement and finishing and could be the next big name in terms of goal scorers in European football.

He's just not that good a footballer. He had a nice streak, where literally every shot on goal went in. He threw a tantrum when he was benched once and wanted to be sold after 3 months at the club. I'd stay far away from him.

And in Belgium football, we don't have release clauses.

 

[Doracle]

Yes. We should be looking in South America in particular. I've already read that Fiorentina is looking at signing Lucas Beltran from River Plate. He's a 22 year old striker who would probably cost them around 12m. Problem is, our fans don't seem to do well with signings like this. If we sign a player from South American for such a low price, the Caf would go into meltdown. Our supporters would much rather have a club like Fiorentina sign him for 12m, and then have us sign him a year or 2 later for 70m. It's all about the status. Can't have guys nobody's heard of...

I disagree with this. Our fans are always going to have patience for youngsters brought in relatively cheap, as long as they are not being brought in as intended immediate starters. Everyone loves a possible bargain.

 

[acolyte]

Then we need to improve our scouting? Look at Brentford finding PL level strikers on the cheap. Watkins and Toney would walk into our team to this day. Even fecking Maupay would have played a lot for us last season. There’s no point in us shopping at the top table once the player is a fully known quantity because if they are truly top class they are most likely going to choose Madrid Barca or Bayern over us. We aren’t the draw we once were. We can’t get any edge like that apart from the fact that we are prepared to give big wages but at that point big wages are a given and other factors come into play.

We're not just looking to find PL level strikers though are we? We (and all the other CL level clubs) are looking for potential worldbeaters.

We (like everyone else) already scout the lower leagues for young players with high potential, but trying to find readymade first team regulars in those leagues is just not a good use of resources. Even of the suggestions in this thread only a few are good enough for teams with aspirations to win the league. And for every one of them there are a couple hundred journeymen who will never rise above their current level. Trying to guess which 21 year old League one or Allsvenskan striker will turn into a superstar and which one will turn into a pumpkin based off limited evidence against substandard opposition will never have a high enough success rate to be worth it.

 

[BehemothTerror]

Scouting lesser leagues abroad might be more fruitful. Surely we can find at least afew punts in places Mexico, S Korea, Argentina, Eastern Europe, Africa that can be bought for a smallish fee and then hopefully be sold on or become solid squad options at least. Though not 100% sure what work permit rules are like these days.

 

[Sir Erik ten Hag]

Remember there was a time when people suggested we signed Benteke as a more skillful Fellaini (Van Gaal used Fellaini a lot back then).

 

[jeepers]

It's not only strikers, we should be scouting for all positions in leagues all around the world. Should be a stroll in the park for a club of our size, reach and resources but they never cease to amaze. Complete lack of efficiency and imagination. What happened to our feeder clubs? We were one of the first clubs to start using the feeder club system, why stop?

Don't bother quoting Zion Suzuki as an example of us reaching all over the globe.

 

[Archer]

I was hoping we could take a look at Ben Brereton since he was available on a free. Could play anywhere across the front and a pretty fast player as well. Not the best, but a decent backup nonetheless.

He was a Manchester United academy player, I am sure United staffs keeping an eye on him.

 

[Sir Erik ten Hag]

It's not only strikers, we should be scouting for all positions in leagues all around the world. Should be a stroll in the park for a club of our size, reach and resources but they never cease to amaze. Complete lack of efficiency and imagination. What happened to our feeder clubs? We were one of the first clubs to start using the feeder club system, why stop?

Don't bother quoting Zion Suzuki as an example of us reaching all over the globe.

They conducted mutiny, perhaps.

 

[AneRu]

A few good pre season performances from the biggest flopped striker graveyard in the world and we should shift our transfer strategy.

No need to be dramatic, cheap punts are a must especially after we have completed our main business. It's not harmful to take a chance on an unheralded player especially if you scout the player's attributes well.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

I disagree with this. Our fans are always going to have patience for youngsters brought in relatively cheap, as long as they are not being brought in as intended immediate starters. Everyone loves a possible bargain.

To an extent. We all loved the Ronaldo signing. And I wasn't just talking about "youngsters", even if my example was just that. We would never find a "Kante" or a "Mahrez", aka a cheap player in their mid 20's