Asian Cup 2015: scouts, executives out in force hoping to discover next big thing
SCOUTS and club football executives from Europe’s leading leagues as well as Asia are scouring the Asian Cup trying to spot the next big thing.
SCOUTS and club football executives from Europe’s leading leagues as well as Asia are scouring the Asian Cup trying to spot the next big thing.
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Tribal Sports Group chief executive Lou Sticca says they are hunting for star players to suit two specific markets while A-League clubs would find it harder to recruit new talent during the current FIFA transfer window due to salary cap restrictions.
Sticca has been one of Australia’s leading player-agents since the 1990s.
The scouts are remaining incognito, which is entirely different from FIFA-approved underage international tournaments where they need accreditation to source fresh talent.
“As we already know Japan and South Korea have been exporting players to Europe for the last 20 years,’’ Sticca said from Melbourne.
“So there is European interest for some of the leading Asian players, keeping in mind that Iran and Iraq have been exporting players to Germany and Europe for quite a long time as well.
“There is also another wave of interest for Australian players, and for Asian football, in the money leagues of China, South Korea, Japan and the Middle East.
“Asian players have a special visa spot (three plus one) in most countries so I think there’s there’s two aspects to what’s going on at the moment.
“The European clubs are looking at the top notch and we’ve got the Asian leagues looking to fill their Asian quota, so there’s definitely two sets of eyes here at the moment.”
Japan is the most expensive side at the Asian Cup in terms of the transfer market.
AC Milan’s Keisuke Honda is worth $20.2 million while Borussia Dortmund’s Shinji Kagawa is valued at $21.6 million and Inter Milan’s Yuto Nagatomo is worth $14.4 million.
Australia and Crystal Palace captain Mile Jedinak is the Socceroos highest valued player at $5.8 million.
Sticca has been talking to some of the world’s leading agents.
“European clubs have their chief scouts here,’’ Sticca said.
“A lot of the European clubs want to do business with Asian football because they see that as the growth market.
“From Asia, the general managers from various top clubs and the big agents including one of the leading agents from South Korea are here.
“Europeans are looking for players like Kagawa, fantasy-type players, playmakers, but there are exceptions like South Korea’s Ki Sung-yueng (Swansea), he is a defensive-holding midfielder, strong, he is exceptional and is in his early 20s.
“The Asian markets usually look for a central defender, a defensive midfielder or a striker - they’re the three key positions.”
But Sticca says A-League clubs should still be keeping an eye on talent given the fiscal restrictions which allows one foreign marquee player to be signed outside the salary cap.
“Players from Japan and China are earning good money and it’s very difficult for us to get players from there into the A-League’s salary cap,’’ Sticca said.
“Some of these boys playing for China in the Asian Cup are earning $6 million a year in their Super League.”