Barcelona’s new head of scouting will attend U20 FIFA World Cup to spot talents | OneFootball

Amidst the financial mess they are in, Barcelona seemingly cannot afford, or fund, big-money transfers. The squad development, thus, will largely continue to depend on the academy and scouting talents early.

A lot of emphasis has been placed on the latter approach in recent years, for identifying talents early can go a long way in gifting the first-team gems, or even producing profits by moving for a larger price tag down the line.

Pedri and Mikayil Faye are the perfect examples of players in the two categories, respectively.

As relayed recently, Barcelona have thus gone on and boosted that department by signing Joao Amaral as the new head of scouting for the club – a personal bet of Deco and a profile well known for his experience in scouting.

Amaral’s first move

As furthered by SPORT now, the new scouting department head has made his first decision in charge, and it is to attend the FIFA U20 World Cup personally to oversee the best talents in the world in action and identify targets for Barcelona.

The FIFA U-20 World Cup will be played in Chile. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

The tournament is set to be held in Chile later this month, and Amaral hopes to use his chance to repay the faith bestowed on him and the massive expectations that are placed on him in his new role. He will be accompanied by one of Barcelona’s scouts as well on tour.

In recent years, the Blaugrana have extensively scouted and capitalised on the African market, where players with a high ceiling have been available for bargain prices.

The approach is expected to continue, especially with Hansi Flick and Co. seriously prioritising young talents.

Most recently, Barcelona signed Roony Bardghji as a young bet and the player is expected to play a reasonable part in Hansi Flick’s plans going forward this season.

Joan Laporta and Co. will hope the new appointment pays off and that Amaral can identify some crux targets for next summer.