Dapo and Durán: SCOUT NOTES, May 14th
Dapo and Durán: SCOUT NOTES, May 14th
The free newsletter for scouting aficionados.
The season of football is coming to close, but the Summer of SCOUTED is about to heat up.
Keep your eyes peeled this week because we’ve got some exciting things ready to burst out of the pipeline. The final touches are being made on what promises to be our biggest couple of months yet, starting with a big subscription drive. Tom sketched the details out the other week — see below.
Of course, if you’ve already subscribed - and if you’re reading this there’s a good chance that you already have - you won’t need to drive. Just sit back, relax, look after yourselves, and wait for everything to drop into your inbox.
Non-league to the Bundesliga
FC St. Pauli are back in the Bundesliga after almost a decade of tier two football. It represents a long-awaited return for the cult club and another milestone in the extraordinary career of Dapo Afolayan.
The 26-year-old Londoner has gone from the depths of non-league English football to the tip of the German pyramid in the space of about eight years.
His junior career featured a long spell in the Chelsea academy before leaving for Toronto, where he trained with the MLS franchise’s first team and the likes of Jermaine Defoe and Sebastian Giovinco while playing some college football.
Upon returning to England, he played and studied at Loughborough University before being picked up by Solihull Moors, where West Ham spotted him playing in the National League.
EFL loans ensued, he found his feet as a dribbly goalscorer at Bolton Wanderers und der rest ist geschichte, as they probably don’t say.
Stories like Dapo’s are what makes football so incredible. There is talent everywhere, waiting to be discovered, striving for the opportunity. It’s another timely reminder that every player has their own unique journey in the game.
Dougie Freedman to Newcastle United?
Once the deal is done, Dan Ashworth will leave Newcastle United to head up INEOS’ footballing operation at Manchester United. It looks like the up-and-coming Saudi-owned club will turn to Dougie Freedman to replace him.
That would be an interesting appointment, much like Ashworth was a sensible appointment a couple of years ago.
Now, a bit of a disclaimer: it’s wrong to attribute the success or failure of any club to a single person (there are so many more people involved, and the celebrity cult that surrounds certain sporting directors is very strange) but, by all accounts, Freedman has had a significant influence on the way Palace have recruited.
And since 2020, they’ve generally recruited well, with betting on top Championship talent being the hallmark.
Eze, Olise, Guéhi, Gallagher, Wharton — these are the types of players that can be pillars of what Newcastle want to do in the immediate and long-term future. They can play significant roles straight away and develop into high-level Premier League starters in future.
If Freedman is indeed the man, we hope he continues to bet on the EFL.
Watch out for Gustavo Sá
On Friday, Gustavo Sá scored his third goal of the season and won player of the match as Famalicão beat Chaves.
On Sunday, Gustavo Sá was spotted in the posh seats watching FC Porto at the Estádio do Dragão alongside his agent.
If he was there on business, setting up something for the summer transfer window, it comes as no surprise. Sá is the type of talent that the big three in Portugal should be all over, let alone clubs all around Europe.
His skillset is interesting because it has a bit of everything. He’s rangy yet fluid in his movements, he has the technical talent to pass and shoot, the mobility to dribble and carry, the physical steel to tackle and compete. He was a standout for us at last summer’s UEFA U-19 EURO as a duel-dominating midfielder, but he’s much more of a playmaker for Famalicão.
Lee Scott has done it again
The ardent SCOUTED Podcast listeners among you will know just how tremendous Lee Scott is when it comes to spotting the next best things from all around the world.
Well, another one of his recommendations is making a name for himself.
Jhon Durán is catching the eye at Aston Villa, with his game-saving the brace against Liverpool last night the latest in a number of exciting cameos.
The proper SCOUTED heads will have been aware of him as far back as February 2021 when Lee singled him out on a South American scouting episode while he was still a 17-year-old at a little-known Colombian club.
That’s why you should listen to SCOUTED: to get the early beat on the future of football and tell all your mates about the next big things. Be a smartarse.
Football Manager Corner
If you’re managing a club in the Bundesliga or a European-level team in the mid-level leagues in Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and so on, Semih Şahin is a name that should be on your centre-mid shortlists.
As centre-mids go on Football Manager, Şahin (no relation to Nuri, as far as we know) is as solid as they come. He has a really sturdy base of attributes across the technical, mental and physical pillars; a mix of passing, press evasion and ball-winning with a steely mentality and a big engine.
It’s unlikely that he improves greatly in your saves, but he represents good value for a range of clubs at about €2 million. He could be come a stalwart of your smaller side or be a profitable flip after a couple of his best seasons.
SCOUTED’s Reading List
Big Ange’s Big Problem, by Jake W. Fox — a forensic analysis of the significant problems Spurs have when it comes to defending corners, which has played a big part in stalling an exciting season.
Can MLB save the starting pitcher? by Jason Stark and Ken Rosenthal — baseball’s most important position is in existential crisis, so this is an interesting read when considering football’s fitness problems.
How to build (and sell) a superstar, by Stephen Ganavas — we’re a bit biased here, granted, but Stevie’s done it again with SkillCorner data.
