Daniele Carboni is a skilled scout who previously worked for Roma alongside Walter Sabatini, and later for San José Earthquakes in MLS. In this post he provides perspectives on talent identification, the significance of data in scouting and recruitment, how soccer is embracing and expanding the use of analytics, and the benefits offered by SportAnalytics. 

What helps you distinguish talent in a soccer player?

“A trained eye, that could be a scout who monitors 1000-2000 players a year, recognizes talent immediately, especially when watching a game: it’s easy to see the player who has intuition in making the right move, who knows how to handle pressure, to be effective in the key moments, or to be a magician with the ball at his/her feet.

Beyond finding talent, it is essential to recognize what is functional to the club’s context: the player who has the characteristics that enhance the coach’s game vision.

Last but not least, it is important to monitor player’s evolution. Just as an analyst studies an opponent’s latest games to discover their characteristics, strengths, and patterns, in my scouting process I usually review 10/15 games to see how players perform at a particular moment of the season and how they improve over time. It is fundamental to consider the athlete’s progression, especially before the transfer window.”

How do you think data can help in the scouting and recruitment process?

“Data helps who knows how to read, interpret, and contextualize them. A player with very positive metrics may be overestimated because the team’s style enhances his/her performance; conversely, a player may have positive metrics but not contribute to the team’s play. It’s crucial to understand exactly how metrics are calculated and to leverage data alongside qualitative evaluations, which are made using video footage.

In the final phase of recruitment, when narrowing down a shortlist of 4/5 players to select the one to be signed, it’s essential to compare them, looking at their parameters in relation to competition benchmarks or same role players in similarly-ranked leagues.

Data can also be useful for increasing the value to transfer players: there are clubs, typically American-owned ones, that are very sensitive to quantitative measurements of player performance. If an athlete has excellent performance data, it’s easier to convey their value and produce a higher valuation during the transfer market. In this phase I always hope that the other party has done a quantitative assessment because it facilitates the conversation: if both sides use data, it’s like “speaking the same language”.

What are the key figures in the club involved in scouting and recruitment?

“The decision taken by the president concerning the sport director is crucial, as it sets the philosophy of the club, not only on the field but also in the transfer market. Then, the sport director will identify the head coach capable of developing a certain style of play and, at the same time, will look for players that are functional to the club’s model and who make the project sustainable over time from a financial point of view.

The sport director is supported by a team of collaborators and scouts: the more these people have a common vision, work in synergy, and make themselves available to the club, the more credible and successful the project will be.”

What difference did you find in the use of data in your past experiences in MLS and Serie A?

“In MLS every decision is made based on quantitative analysis: from player scouting and recruitment to sales, and match analysis. My former club trusted data so much that they invested in developing an internal department, with a dedicated staff.

In Italy the focus on data has grown in recent years. In the early years, when I collaborated with Serie A’s clubs for player scouting, evaluations were almost entirely qualitative, meaning they were based on watching matches. Gradually data has increasingly been incorporated into the scouting process, though it does not yet compare to the approach employed in the United States (MLS).”

What is the added value of SportAnalytics in your work?

“A significant advantage of SportAnalytics is the most extensive collection of metrics taking into account the numbers in relation to the team’s play style and competition level.

SportAnalytics provides a comprehensive evaluation: this helps me verify if my perceptions align with the data and if the data highlights some skills that I underestimated. Additionally, SportAnalytics develops metrics with tracking and event data. This enables the assessment of technical-tactical abilities in relation to athletic capacities.

For example I have always been interested in a player’s passing ability, but knowing just the number of passes done or the pass accuracy is not enough. It’s important to contextualize the technical action by considering where the pass started, the pressure on the player, if the pass broke the lines and created an open space for a teammate.”

How do you imagine scouting will change in 10 years?

“Scouting departments are increasingly enrolling people with analytical backgrounds alongside “traditional” scouts who work on the field and watch the game at the stadium. I expect that the costs of video technologies and data collection systems will decrease, allowing for data gathering from youth sectors and lower leagues to facilitate and democratize talent identification.

Nowadays in scouting you need to be able to draw conclusions based on information coming from many different angles. One of these aspects is data analytics. I believe that SportAnalytics platform will positively influence the recruitment process in the future.”