"Scouting without structure is pure improvisation"

Víctor Grao Melim doesn't beat around the bush. He once dreamed of being a professional footballer and ended up standing out as an analytical journalist, he knew how to reconvert his passion for football into a career marked by scouting and training. He is the brain behind La Pizarra del DT, an educational platform that seeks to correct what he calls "the great improvisation" in the internal roles of clubs.

With firm steps through teams such as Universidad de Chile, Palestino, Independiente Santa Fe and Club Bolívar, Grao not only knows the cracks in South American football by heart, but also has a clear recipe to strengthen it: methodology, standardization and long-term work. Here, in a talk as frank as it is passionate, he tells us how the human eye remains irreplaceable in times of advanced technology, why continuity is the Achilles heel of clubs and what it really means to build from the ground up in a football as unpredictable as ours. What inspired you to get into the world of football and what were your first steps in the industry like?

I always played football, like anyone else. I played a couple of games in the Venezuelan second division, but perhaps I wasn't good enough to become a professional and make a living from it, at least not the way I wanted. I studied journalism and specialized in the sports field, working in radio, press and TV.

What led you to specialize in the area of ​​scouting and player analysis?

As a journalist, I was always a very analytical journalist. I was constantly tweeting about the Venezuelan league analyzing players. One day, the manager of Palestino de Chile contacted me asking about players in the wing position. I asked him to give me a chance to come home and send him a short report on 10 players. We kept in touch and after a couple of months they gave me my first contract as a scout/analyst.

You have worked in several Latin American clubs such as Universidad de Chile, Palestino, Independiente Santa Fe and Club Bolívar. What differences did you find in the scouting and player management methodologies in each country?

Many clubs have little structure. At U de Chile and Club Bolívar we had a very good methodology. Something that is constantly replicated in all clubs is that no material is left from one technical secretary to another and it seems like a mistake to me. There is no continuity of processes. In most clubs you arrive and have to implement everything from scratch. Not because it didn't exist before, but because no one leaves their job when they leave the institution.

How did the idea of ​​founding La Pizarra del DT come about and what is its mission in the current football ecosystem?

La Pizarra del DT arises as a need to be able to train and educate the Latin American public mainly in 11 areas of football that range from analysis and scouting to nutrition or legal area. There is a big problem in the training of club staff since they usually arrive without knowing anything about a club and its internal functioning. That is why there is so much improvisation in internal roles and functions.

Our mission is to provide training to people who want to work in football or who already work and want to update their skills.

What challenges and opportunities did you encounter when managing a football analysis and content platform that has expanded in popularity in Latin America?

The challenge is that there is a very large market universe that needs to satisfy needs. Neither universities nor conventional educational institutions satisfy them.

Could you tell us a little about your scouting methodology? How do you balance observation on the field with the use of data and technology?

The structure that I use is that of macro to micro monitoring. Initially, I do the broadest possible recruitment, but with a prior study of the market. That is, if in a given club in the last 10 years one nationality has worked better than another, I focus on those specific leagues.

From there, many matches are watched and a classification of players is made. Those players move on to a second phase where those specific players are analyzed, again by watching full matches, and the filtering continues.

The last phase is a universe of about 30-50 players that are analyzed in depth. The main options are subject to an exhaustive analysis: physical, technical, tactical, psychological, family, social networks...

In your experience, what is the importance of a standardized system and how do you implement it in the clubs where you have worked?

Very important. There is never just one scout, one sporting director... Having a standardization of criteria is key to being able to implement in depth.

From your perspective, how do you see the development of talent in South American football compared to European football?

Taking all of Europe or all of America as a whole is very complicated. If you analyze the best leagues in Europe, you can make a balance. The main differences lie in tactical and, sometimes, physical aspects. In terms of muscle development. There are many very good players in America who come to Europe and stand out for their technique, but on the tactical side they falter a bit. However, in high-performance football, it happens that many Europeans come to South America and do not manage to adapt.

What key differences do you find between scouting approaches in South America and those in other regions such as Europe?

Same as the previous question: there are countries that are very developed in the area of ​​scouting, but if you go to Lithuania, which is also Europe, there is no development. I think it is an area of ​​great growth and opportunities at an international level. It is true that there are specific markets that are very well developed (top 5 leagues) that have teams that sometimes have more than 100 people in their entire training and professional structure.

Do you think that scouting needs a well-defined sports structure or direction to be really effective, or can it work more independently?

Yes, it has to have a clear structure to work. Everything else is improvisation.

What do you think should be the approach of clubs in Latin America when resorting to scouting? What should they prioritize when implementing a system of recruiting and analyzing players?

Focus on a few leagues, but be truly expert in them. It happens that many times they want to cover too much or they limit themselves to recommendations from agents and end up making transfer markets not focused on the real focus of the club.

How does the economic reality of South American clubs affect the planning and execution of long-term scouting strategies?

Yes, it does, but with a good structure you can usually better manage that uncertainty of little capital. If you know 3 months in advance which players can arrive free and you manage them in time, you significantly increase the chances of signing footballers.

What do you think are the tools or technologies that will have the greatest impact on the world of scouting in the coming years?

WyScout, SICS TV and artificial intelligence platforms, including ChatGPT.

How do you think scouting will evolve as an activity in the context of the globalization of football and the advancement of data technology?

It will continue to grow, but I doubt it can surpass the human eye.

What are your professional and personal expectations in the world of football in the future?

For now, make La Pizarra del DT the #1 football training platform in Latin America.

Dannwolf Calvin