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SCOUTING FOR GOALS

What does it take to become a scout for Man United?

United have publicly advertised for a recruitment analyst to help the club identify first-team targets - but what skills and qualifications do you actually need?

For the first time in their 140-year history, Man United are looking to hire a director of football.

It’s the modern way, after all.

And judging by United’s questionable transfer business in recent years, we reckon they could use all the help they can get.

Best of friends

AFP or licensors
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Best of friends

So to get the ball rolling, United have publicly advertised for a ‘Recruitment Analyst’ on everyone’s favourite job listings website Indeed.

Working within the club’s scouting and recruitment department, the ad states the club is looking for someone who will “collate and analyse Manchester United specific technical, tactical and physical benchmarks”.

Essentially, steer clear of Angel Di Maria.

Nope outta this one

PA:Empics Sport
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Nope outta this one

So what do you actually need to work as a scout for United?

Well, first off, you’d need to be well qualified in the field of sport science.

The bare basics are that you’ll need a sport science honours degree – “preferably a master’s level qualification” – as well as training in performance analysis (essentially, watching and re-watching training videos; the kind of thing Marcelo Bielsa does for fun).

Then, you need to understand the technical and tactical demands of professional football.

As we all know, Jose Mourinho has very ‘specific’ way of setting up his team (get the bus memes in, lads), so the player would need to work well within the Special One’s unique system.

Got it? Got it

REUTERS
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Got it? Got it

Luckily, there’s already a huge scouting network for you to play with.

In recent years, the club’s network across Europe, South America and Asia has grown to treble it’s size since the days of Sir Alex Ferguson.

The chances are, nowadays they’d have someone who’s actually watched Bebe play football.

If you’re interested, make sure you get your application in quick.

It seems United have already started their backroom shakeup by hiring former Man City scout Romain Poirot, who will be tasked with searching for ‘world-class and emerging talent’ in France.


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