A typical week in the life of an Arsenal scout

By Danny Karbassiyoon

Danny Karbassiyoon is an ex-Arsenal player who went on to become Arsenal’s scout in North and Central America.   Danny’s autobiography, Danny Karbassiyoon – what’s it like? will be published by Untold Arsenal in the next couple of months.

Before receiving a phone call from Arsenal’s Chief Scout with an offer to join the Club as a scout in CONCACAF in 2007, I knew very little about the player recruitment world. Of course I knew a little bit about how Steve Rowley had scouted me, but the entire week he’d watched me at the camp that led to my trial, I didn’t even know he was actually in attendance.

When I did accept the offer to be a scout for Arsenal and flew back to London to undergo my training, I quickly learned what life as a scout entailed and what was to be expected of me.

I’ve always quite enjoyed the organizational side of scouting. In a region as big as CONCACAF, where the player pool is massive but historically not as talented as our neighbours down south or in Europe, it is vital to have a process in place that allows one to be as efficient as possible, both from an analysis point of view as well as the actual player identification side of things.

There are over 1.5m registered boys in US Youth Soccer as of 2014. There are semi-professional leagues, college, USL1, USL2, the NASL, and of course MLS, the pinnacle of the United States’ league structure.

Throw that on top of Mexico’s similar but very different youth to pro structure, add Canada’s system, then pepper in the smaller countries that make up CONCACAF and you’ve got yourself quite a daunting region to look after.

Staying organized, and knowing how to most effectively use your time is important in any profession, but when you’ve got a million places you need to be but can only choose one on any given day, it can become much more important in the world of scouting.

It is almost impossible to define a typical week in the life of a scout largely because of the dynamic nature of the field. Some trips – especially larger tournaments – are planned well in advance, while others are handled in a much more frenzied state, checking to see the quickest way to get to a city three time zones away in time for kick-off the following night. With that said, the first part of the week is generally defined by planning and research.

The planning and research portion of a scout’s work can often be more important than the actual traveling and watching of games. Most of the time the scout’s own research will dictate where he goes. Sometimes a lead from someone in his network will lead to a trip. A very small percentage of the time, a phone call from London will decide the next destination.

A week spent on the phone with contacts in different corners of your region may prove more useful than getting on a plane or hopping in a car to go watch a game. A scout’s network is his lifeline and it is important to build relationships with people whose opinions you trust. Recommend one or two players that don’t come close to what the scout is looking for, and I can guarantee it’ll be a lot harder to get back in touch with that scout in the future.

Now that you know what is going on in your region that week and you’ve decided on which game or which set of games makes the most sense to watch, it’s time to organize your travel. I used to be heavily dependent on our travel agent, but after years of travelling throughout the region, I am happier doing everything on my own.

Plane, rental car, hotel, match tickets, repeat.

As I mentioned, it is difficult to define a typical week because of the dynamic nature of football in general. Sometimes the planning happens midweek, or at the weekend while on another trip. Between all the leagues and countries mentioned above, there always seems to be a game on, so travel, though mostly at the weekend, can happen throughout the week as well.

Player assessment not only happens at the match but also prior with a load of video tools at our disposal. Part of the planning and research portion also includes getting a good idea of what type of player you’ll see when kickoff comes. Unless the player being assessed is a youth player with very little video, many scouts will have a good idea already of the strengths and weaknesses of a potential target before seeing them live for the first time.

When the match ends, it’s time to take your notes and make sense of them. As scouts operate as the eyes and ears of the Chief Scout and ultimately the Manager, it is important to be able to put well written reports together highlighting a player’s strengths and weaknesses and what our next steps will be. This is often done on the plane home or in the hotel room right after the match while everything is still fresh.

The week begins again upon touching down wherever home may be. Back on the phone, back on the internet – finding out more about players in your region and watching video to really understand the targets you are following. There’s also the task of finding out how the guys that you opted not to go watch that weekend ended up doing as well. This segues back into the planning and research part of it as a new week kicks back off.  

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The Untold Books

Woolwich Arsenal the club that changed football, is now available on Kindle at £9.99.  For more details and to buy a copyplease click here or go to Amazon Kindle and search for Woolwich Arsenal.

• Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
• Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
• The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal

Forthcoming titles:

Danny Karbassiyoon – what’s it like?  By Danny Karbassiyoon

Arsenal: The Long Sleep 1953-1970.  By John Sowman.  Introduction by Bob Wilson.