Real Madrid scouts fed up with treatment by club | OneFootball

Real Madrid recently held an annual get together of their scouting network across Spain, and as debates continue about the function of ‘La Fabrica’ or the factory as their academy is called, a disenfranchised workforce cannot be aiding the situation.

President Florentino Perez defended their work in the academy, saying it was the best in the world, citing the number of players in Europe’s top five leagues that have passed through the ranks at Valdebebas. Yet their focus has been on producing players that can make it in the top flights anywhere, rather than at Real Madrid in the senior team.

Undoubtedly many of the best talents in Spain are nurtured by Los Blancos, but their recruitment effort is asking a lot of their scouts. Relevo report that their scouts normally earn around €500 per month, and are sometimes sent across the empty plains with little reward. The club pays some of their expenses, such as petrol money, but what they pay has not risen with the prices of fuel lately. Nor do Real Madrid foot the bill for any maintenance or repairs. All of the scouting team are kept on rolling one-year contracts, with no guarantee of their job next year either.

Beyond the finances, the are also grumblings that their reports and information is too often discarded or not heeded, while some areas are visited by the club recruitment department much less than others.

Another frustration is a general lack of thought towards them. During their annual meeting at Valdebebas, the scouts spent time around the facilities and the academy, ahead of Los Blancos clash with Osasuna at the Santiago Bernabeu. The expectation was that they would then attend the match, but instead the club left them at Valdebebas to watch the game on a big screen.