Arsenal have been rebuilding their scouting network, a year after seeking to dismantle it.
Francis Cagigao, the Gunners’ former head of recruitment, and senior scouts operating in Europe’s most prominent football countries left the club last summer.
But it seems like Arsenal are rebuilding it now.
According to Football London, the Emirates Stadium have hired Toni Lima, with the former Andorra international credited with bringing the likes of Neymar and Philippe Coutinho to European football.
In addition to that, Arsenal have signed Romain Poirot as first-team scout with an emphasis on recruiting young players from French football.
Here’s how some fans of the North London club reacted on Twitter:
Recruitment
Arsenal’s recruitment has been very questionable in recent years.
The first summer after Arsene Wenger left, the club signed Bernd Leno, Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendouzi, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Stephan Lichtsteiner – and with Leno being the only active player left from that haul, it’s indicative of recruiting problems.
Even under Edu there’s been a lot of suspect signings, with the decision to give Willian a £220,000-a-week contract arguably the worst piece of business under the English club’s head of football, but hopefully these scouting additions can bear fruit down the line.
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