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Scouting/recruitment
Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2026 12:32 pm
by Milky1971
If there’s already a thread please move
Imo where we are being let down down is our scouting system abroad
If we buy from Britain we seem to get it ok KDH for example
But when we buy in they let us down
Beto, Barry, Rohl and aznou are not good enough
(Aznou did well Saturday but it’s not enough)
Do we need better scouts or should Moyes have a bigger say on who comes in
Re: Scouting/recruitment
Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2026 12:36 pm
by Cereal Killer
Our head of recruitment didn’t start until September 2025 so he’s not even had a window to do anything, let alone a proper summer
I’m willing to give them more than zero opportunities before making any judgements
Re: Scouting/recruitment
Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2026 12:41 pm
by AjaxAndy
Beto was a horrendous piece of scouting, and whilst I appreciate we could get him on a buy now pay later deal we'd actually been linked for 12-18 months before, so seems we'd been actively scouting him thinking he was worth potentially buying.
Barry I actually don't mind, yes he's raw but he scored double figures in La Liga and we most likely expected to bed him in over the season. I've said it many times but I think Barry's biggest problem is that Beto has been so bad, not necessarily his talent or potential.
Rohl has an obligation to buy but it's only £17m apparently, so I think that's ok. Long term he'd probably be a decent squad player and the outlay is relatively low.
Aznou was £8m, clearly has potential but nowhere near ready. Happy we spent that on him, may well end up being a bargain down the line and if not we've not lost anything in the grand scheme of things.
Take out Beto and we've spent about £52m on the other 3... It's peanuts, and their wages will be pretty low. I don't think it's necessarily a failure of recruitment, just the reality of not having much to spend and trying to bring in players whom will develop long term and potentially flip for huge profits.
We also bought Dibling domestically and he's been awful (again long term might develop to something really good).
I'd love us to have bought non domestic players who hit the ground running, and we did try but they all turned us down. So I'm not convinced it's a failure to identify good players, just we were hindered by needing to keep wages low and being highly unattractive to anyone who'd move the needle in the short term.
Re: Scouting/recruitment
Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2026 12:51 pm
by Shogun
Players that Moyes wants to sign (Grealish, KDH): Quality
Players that the committee and hipsters like brap2 want to sign (Dibling, Rohl, Barry): Crap
Re: Scouting/recruitment
Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2026 12:59 pm
by Indiantoffee75
Summer wil be interesting.
We are not going to have another summer window where the recruitment team/Kinnear identify totally different players to what the manager wants and plays.
Summer could be defining and a parting of ways for either.
If the owners have a long term plan to develop younger players and have put together a newly formed recruitment team, then there may only be one outcome.
Re: Scouting/recruitment
Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2026 1:10 pm
by TheRam
The environment you create as a club is just as important as the scouting.
Brentford, Bournemouth and Brighton are always held up as examples on how to recruit but they also great the environment for players from abroad, from lower leagues to perform over the long term.
The players we see for the performing quite often take a lot of time to show their best.
We, as a club have a habit of writing players off very quickly and looking at ways to get rid of them instead of giving them the time needed.
I don’t think anyone should have expected more from Barry than what he’s offered so far and the fact he’s already physically able to compete in the premier league is a really good sign and we need to be patient with him.
Re: Scouting/recruitment
Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2026 2:09 pm
by Milky1971
AjaxAndy wrote: ↑Tue Jan 13, 2026 12:41 pm
Beto was a horrendous piece of scouting, and whilst I appreciate we could get him on a buy now pay later deal we'd actually been linked for 12-18 months before, so seems we'd been actively scouting him thinking he was worth potentially buying.
Barry I actually don't mind, yes he's raw but he scored double figures in La Liga and we most likely expected to bed him in over the season. I've said it many times but I think Barry's biggest problem is that Beto has been so bad, not necessarily his talent or potential.
Rohl has an obligation to buy but it's only £17m apparently, so I think that's ok. Long term he'd probably be a decent squad player and the outlay is relatively low.
Aznou was £8m, clearly has potential but nowhere near ready. Happy we spent that on him, may well end up being a bargain down the line and if not we've not lost anything in the grand scheme of things.
Take out Beto and we've spent about £52m on the other 3... It's peanuts, and their wages will be pretty low. I don't think it's necessarily a failure of recruitment, just the reality of not having much to spend and trying to bring in players whom will develop long term and potentially flip for huge profits.
We also bought Dibling domestically and he's been awful (again long term might develop to something really good).
I'd love us to have bought non domestic players who hit the ground running, and we did try but they all turned us down. So I'm not convinced it's a failure to identify good players, just we were hindered by needing to keep wages low and being highly unattractive to anyone who'd move the needle in the short term.
I don’t disagree with any of this apart from us signing Rohl I can’t see it happening especially with Harrison Armstrong having a better showing last Saturday
For me spending 80million on 3 prospects in one window was wasteful
Clearly Dibling/ Barry need time to settle in but £30/£40 million should be premier ready players
Re: Scouting/recruitment
Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2026 2:36 pm
by Gash
Milky1971 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 13, 2026 2:09 pm
I don’t disagree with any of this apart from us signing Rohl I can’t see it happening especially with Harrison Armstrong having a better showing last Saturday
For me spending 80million on 3 prospects in one window was wasteful
Clearly Dibling/ Barry need time to settle in but £30/£40 million should be premier ready players
We've an obligation to buy Rohl, I think the only way we can get out of it is if we're relegated.
Re: Scouting/recruitment
Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2026 2:55 pm
by Kerryblueboy
We need to be more patient as a fan base the writing off players after a couple of games is pitiful we are moving in the right direction slowly but definitely improving where we got let down last summer was the not recruiting a rb especially when tete was the first player we went after
Re: Scouting/recruitment
Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2026 3:00 pm
by Sir Stealth
Rohl, Dibling, Barry, Aznou all have huge potential and for me are the right types of players for us to be signing. I’m all for giving them time and being patient with them, even if the rewards aren’t there instantly
