The Athletic’s Patrick Boyland has been discussing the scouting network that Everton currently have in place across the world.
Marcel Brands has been in his position as the Toffees’ director of football since May 2018, with the Dutchman having replaced Steve Walsh (per BBC).
As part of his role with Everton, Brands has assembled the club’s scouting network and that is now led by the head of recruitment Gretar Steinsson (per The Athletic).
In the latest episode of The Athletic’s Gwlad Tidings podcast, Boyland discussed this scouting network and explained how it works.
He said: “Everton’s network meets often, meets frequently, meets every week. They have scouts positioned in all the major European countries.
“I wasn’t too sure how to package them, but Holland and Belgium as well, I didn’t know whether to include them in the piece [for The Athletic] with France and Italy and all the places you would expect recruitment teams to be.
“They have an Eredivisie scout. They have a Belgian league scout, they have a scout for South America. They have a guy that straddles Italy and the Balkans.
“The reason they have that scout is because they’ve commissioned reports, independent reports, and they’ve found that the Balkans is one of the main providers of undervalued talent.
“So, yeah, obviously [it’s] important for them to try and find that in the current climate and then they also have guys, obviously, that work quite extensively in the UK. So, they meet and it’s quite a thorough process, actually.”
TIF Thoughts…
As can be seen in what the Athletic reporter had to say, it is clear that the Toffees have an extensive scouting network that stretches across the world.
Do you think Marcel Brands is a good director of football?
No, I don't really think so
Yes, he does a good job
During Brands’ time with his previous club, PSV Eindhoven, he helped guide the Dutch outfit to the Eredivisie title in the season prior to his departure for Goodison Park.
So, hopefully, the club’s director of football can help bring success to the blue half of Merseyside as he did do in Eindhoven.