Talent Poaching Thread

i have a story to share with you.. there was a brasilian player by the name of venisius (Vini) souza and he was 16 years old and played for a team called Futeball Clube Capinas.. Vini was showing a lot of talent and had hopes of making the move to a 1st divison team.. However, a scout from a team in Norway saw Vini play and recognized his talent and asked for him to come to trial at a team in Norway in the top divison. Vini's team hired him a agent and the agent and vini were off to Europe for the trial.. when Vini and the agent arrived the agent contaced the scout and set up the trail... then something bad happened the scout was not able to get vini a trial and the agent quickly realized his mistake and jetted out of Norway.. Vini was stuck in Norway, with no money, no way to communicate, and no contacts to speak to. Luckly Vini met a Brasilian family and had to lived off their handouts until he could gather enough money to fly himself back to brasil (after 5 months)


this is a true story (save names) and one that happens far to often to teenagers of south america.....

diegomessi said:

i have a story to share with you.. there was a brasilian player by the name of venisius (Vini) souza and he was 16 years old and played for a team called Futeball Clube Capinas.. Vini was showing a lot of talent and had hopes of making the move to a 1st divison team.. However, a scout from a team in Norway saw Vini play and recognized his talent and asked for him to come to trial at a team in Norway in the top divison. Vini's team hired him a agent and the agent and vini were off to Europe for the trial.. when Vini and the agent arrived the agent contaced the scout and set up the trail... then something bad happened the scout was not able to get vini a trial and the agent quickly realized his mistake and jetted out of Norway.. Vini was stuck in Norway, with no money, no way to communicate, and no contacts to speak to. Luckly Vini met a Brasilian family and had to lived off their handouts until he could gather enough money to fly himself back to brasil (after 5 months)


this is a true story (save names) and one that happens far to often to teenagers of south america.....

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Thats exactly what i mean Diego, thats the kinda of shit FIFA need to stop from happening.It can totally break a person.

John Antonio Bilboa said:

Its amazing how hypocritical these French clubs are being after the things they put kids from Africa through.They send their scouts out to Africa and bring talented young players for trials, if they don't make it they are dumped on the streets of france, but of course this isn't important to Fifa they'd rather focus on dead end witch hunts.How classy, from footballs governing body.

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John Antonio Bilboa said:

I'm not diverting anything i'm just trying to make a point.Its perfectly relevant, Fifa are the governing body of football their role in a nutshell is to govern.Instead of wasting time on banning players for diving, or placing transfer bans clubs for poaching when the details are a bit foggy.
Its not only football schools that are plundered especially in West Africa, where the need is more.Take Micheal Essien for example, his mother was a street hawker in Ghana selling bread on the road side making 5 Cedi's( £1.50 ) at the end of everyday with five children to feed at home.If you were told by a French scout that your child has talent, he wants to take him to Europe, with the possibility of playing for a european football team would you say no? When the kids dumped on the streets, who's the bread seller gonna complain to, FIFA? Hardily.
FIFA need to focus on the developing football policy in countries where the laws for these things are unclear, they need to focus on the countries where doing these things are easier to get away with.Where there is no system besides getting a visa and jumping on a plane.

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John Antonio Bilboa said:

Have you ever been to Africa CA? There's been a whole documentary on this! That's why i'm shocked to see Fifa reacting as so furiously to claims from French teams when they have been at it since time in memorial.Yes, English teams should be punished, but the punishment should fit the crime and if it doesn't its not fair.But of course this happened in Africa so, who cares.

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And certainly you haven't been to Africa , except for your origins you don't know a lot now do you Jab ?

you are repeating the English defensive press
first their is 2 systems for SCOUTING ,many French & Dutch clubs have "ACADEMIAS " in Africa (i'm sure as someone from Africa you heard of Ajax cape town ? at least ) .
same way Arsenal, Barca,AC Milan have an academy /football school over here in Egypt

now to poaching which brings us to the second system.. how is offering OFFICIAL trials in African countries and offering a talented kid a chance to join a club (WHEN HE IS NOT SIGNED FOR ANY CLUB ) is poaching youngsters ? or even the same as what citeh and others are doing ?

you seem to miss the difference between International scouting and poaching players..
what French clubs do is scouting , 70 % of ex players for French clubs works as scouts
the players enter France /Belgium/Dutch lands with Visa not as illegal immigrants
those who are turned down usually join another club
cause the French club already pay for the guy salary and the kid traveling expenses etc they don't pick anyone from the streets Jabba , no French club are stupid enough to offer 100 kids they won't use plane tickets /accommodation to take 1 or 2
if the player belongs to a club he is sold that's why u don't see legal cases between the african clubs and European ones.. and 90 % of the players moving to France usually belongs to clubs in Africa
i'm quit sure you know from your elders that clubs Asec and co live and finance themselves through constantly discover players and sell them to Europe , many of those clubs have partnership with European clubs , where French clubs give technical assistance and clubs have first option .. something we even did with Boca Juniors
forget what the English press is saying ffs , they always go on the defensive and as CA pointed divert attention .

diegomessi said:

i have a story to share with you.. there was a brasilian player by the name of venisius (Vini) souza and he was 16 years old and played for a team called Futeball Clube Capinas.. Vini was showing a lot of talent and had hopes of making the move to a 1st divison team.. However, a scout from a team in Norway saw Vini play and recognized his talent and asked for him to come to trial at a team in Norway in the top divison. Vini's team hired him a agent and the agent and vini were off to Europe for the trial.. when Vini and the agent arrived the agent contaced the scout and set up the trail... then something bad happened the scout was not able to get vini a trial and the agent quickly realized his mistake and jetted out of Norway.. Vini was stuck in Norway, with no money, no way to communicate, and no contacts to speak to. Luckly Vini met a Brasilian family and had to lived off their handouts until he could gather enough money to fly himself back to brasil (after 5 months)


this is a true story (save names) and one that happens far to often to teenagers of south america.....

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I don't know about Norway but in the EU he wouldn't get a Visa without an official club invitation and sponsorship

Interesting breakdown of the process Beast. The way you've outlined it sounds pretty much above board. It's when you get cases like Diego posted above, where dodgy agents offer kids false hope etc when you get problems. The fact is if the players are unattached kids in Africa there's nothing FIFA can do, these guys are technically just regular members of the public and the clubs offer them the chance to become footballers.
FIFA and UEFA do need to clamp down on cases like Chelsea's though. With the difference in wealth between the top sides and the rest the only way smaller teams can manage is to produce top talent. They should be protected, after all the effort they go through to then have the player leave for next to nothing before he's even contributed to the first team just ain't right. EU law is always brought up, I don't see why football can't be excluded from that. It's far from your usual business industry. Workers don't move companies for millions of pounds in other careers.

Cal-FCB said:

Interesting breakdown of the process Beast. The way you've outlined it sounds pretty much above board. It's when you get cases like Diego posted above, where dodgy agents offer kids false hope etc when you get problems. The fact is if the players are unattached kids in Africa there's nothing FIFA can do, these guys are technically just regular members of the public and the clubs offer them the chance to become footballers.
FIFA and UEFA do need to clamp down on cases like Chelsea's though. With the difference in wealth between the top sides and the rest the only way smaller teams can manage is to produce top talent. They should be protected, after all the effort they go through to then have the player leave for next to nothing before he's even contributed to the first team just ain't right. EU law is always brought up, I don't see why football can't be excluded from that. It's far from your usual business industry. Workers don't move companies for millions of pounds in other careers.

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Cases like Diego posted is an exception and tbh it's down to the player himself being Naive , it's a case of corrupt agent not a corrupt system ..

African countries fought with the EU to exclude their players from being counted as a non-Eu players (and they got what they want).. that's how bad the French clubs and others are exploiting Africa..

I don't have time to write what France do in return , but during the 70's & 80's and 90's over 70 % of the managers in Africa were sent by the French FA to coach the national teams complimentary on the expense of the French tax payers .

so many technical assistance , money,uniform ..etc were give to poor under developed countries
you have to wonder if Weah would still be alive if Wenger didn't sign him

You do read about a lot of those cases in Africa though, it's supposedly quite common there. When a continent itself is that fucked you can't expect it's football system to be solid really. France have such strong links with Africa anyway so it's inevitable a lot of African players will find their way to French teams.