Is there anywhere left to unearth football’s hidden talents?
Dario Osorio, 22, has won 25 caps for Chile and has featured twice for Crystal Palace since joining on loan this summer. He moved from Universidad de Chile to Midtjylland at 19 and spent three seasons in Scandinavia before the Palace loan, which includes a £24m option to buy that would make him the most expensive sale in Danish Superliga history.
When asked about Osorio's arrival, Kristian Kjaer, technical director at Midtjylland, said: "When we signed Dario Osorio, it was not because no-one knew about him." Kjaer noted the winger had been on the radar of AC Milan, RB Leipzig, Salzburg and a number of other English and German clubs before leaving Santiago. Midtjylland — where Brentford owner Matthew Benham was a majority stakeholder between 2014 and 2023 — are recognised in the article for their analytic approach to recruitment and set-pieces.
"You would put this period as one of the most transformational in talent ID and recruitment," said Sam Turner, head of operations at scouting and development platform Eyeball, describing the shift brought by wider access to footage, data and analytics. Eyeball is used by more than 60% of clubs in Europe's top five leagues and a majority of Premier League sides, and provides access to more than 400,000 young players across 42 global markets. The company records north of 2,000 data points every match, typically from leading amateur clubs and elite academies who film and upload fixtures.
The article gives examples of players identified through modern scouting networks: 20-year-old Malick Yalcouye, tracked since his time at Ivorian side ASEC Mimosas, has broken into Brighton's first team this season; Bazoumana Toure is now at Newcastle. Other recent moves cited include Josue Caicedo leaving LDU Quito for Barcelona, Mustapha Nyassi moving from Real de Banjul to Copenhagen and Nour Ashraf joining Leipzig from Egypt's ENPPI.
Kjaer set out Midtjylland's process of blending traditional observation with data, saying data is "extremely important because it gives you an objective tool you can lean towards" but adding: "We cannot just turn on the computer and it tell us who to sign and then we go sign them." He emphasised the need to understand cultural and family backgrounds when recruiting and accepted that signing young reduces sample sizes, creating competition from bigger clubs. Midtjylland also point to a development pathway and partnerships — including a partner club in Nigeria, FC Ebedei — and examples of players leaving for larger European sides.
Turner and Kjaer identified emerging markets and national approaches that are drawing attention. Both singled out Uzbekistan, with the article noting 22-year-old Manchester City defender Abdukodir Khusanov among those to feature at the World Cup for the debutants this summer; Turner described Azerbaijan as "very forward-thinking and motivated to progress the game domestically" and called Japan a "guiding star" in youth development. On Latin America, the piece cites former Midtjylland chairman Rasmus Ankersen's observation that a club such as Cruzeiro will reject 4,000 players under the age of 15 for every one they take in.
The article examines Africa as a continuing source of talent and new scouting infrastructure. Thomas Randolph, founder of Delphlyx, said: "There'll be thousands," when asked whether talented African players may have missed out on big moves in the past, and noted his organisation has "over 19,000 players in Africa on our platform that you could just sit right here in London and watch." Examples include 19-year-old Zadok Yohanna, who made his Brighton debut after a year in Sweden at AIK, and Senegalese defender Mor Talla Ndiaye, 18, who has already been on the bench for Liverpool after arriving from Amitie. The article also records: "Ndiaye was spotted at last year's Under-17 World Cup, where Burkina Faso midfielder Mohamed Zongo also impressed. He will join Chelsea and Strasbourg owners BlueCo's project when he turns 18 in two years' time." Randolph highlighted regions such as eastern Mali, Togo, Guinea-Bissau and Burkina Faso, and said: "One place they've used the Fifa money very well is Benin." The piece adds that Romaine Gandonou, 15, "just played at the Under-20 World Cup, and got the likes of PSG, Barcelona, everyone after her."
Jamel Sandjak, president of the Ligue de Paris Ile-de-France, said: "Scouts from all over the world come to Ile-de-France to look at players in our leagues." The article cites local examples of unsigned or amateur sides beating professional academies, noting ES Nanterre won Championnat National Group B ahead of Lens and Lille and second-tier clubs Reims, Bastia and Red Star last season, forward Exauce Luyindula was top scorer for AAS Sarcelles and has since joined Ligue 2 Guingamp, and youth sides such as AFC Creil, Olympique Rovenain and CS Bretigny recorded victories over Lens, Nice and Paris St-Germain respectively.
