A former football scout in Serie A has revealed that Scottish football is a totally undervalued source of talent and potential. Francesco Strozzi – formerly of Bologna – and the man who took Aaron Hickey from Heart of Midlothian to Italy insists that the game in this country is awash with great footballers and it is also miscalculated by preconceived notions from the outside.
After Lewis Ferguson completed his move to Bologna for £3 million, following in the footsteps of two former Celtic Academy graduates, Aaron Hickey and Liam Henderson, Josh Doig also left home for a similar fee from Hibernian to Hellas Verona this week – prompting Strozzi to double down on his initial theory. He said: “My first thought about Scottish football is that the Scottish Premiership is an incredibly, incredibly underrated league.
“In my opinion, it doesn’t have quite enough attention in the eyes of many scouting departments around the world. Scottish football is fast, dynamic and physical, so for Italian clubs who are trying to find young players who have these requirements, I think it is a good league to watch and, right now, not find too much competition for players.
He continued as reported by Herald Scotland: “When you watch Scottish Premiership games, you can tell there are a lot of valuable players, but when scouting based on Serie A, the priority is that they should be the right one for the team.
“I am highly impressed by what the Scottish FA is doing. Watching a lot of games of the youth national team made me appreciate their work concerning the improvement of football coaching there.
“Their facilities are amazing and, even when it comes to the club side, Scottish football is gaining more and more importance in European football – even if it is already full of historically important clubs. In my opinion, they are working really, really hard to be competitive and also to let their young prospects become important assets for clubs even outside the UK. I think the recent moves are going to bring Scottish football onto the radar of many more clubs in Italy.”
He added: “I think he will be very, very important in the club’s way of playing because Sinisa Mihajlovic is a coach who can bring out even more of Lewis Ferguson’s qualities.
“Ferguson makes central runs and he scores important goals from midfield, which is something you don’t see so much here in Serie A. So, at a club like Bologna, and with the way of playing Mihajlovic wants, you can expect great things from Lewis Ferguson.”
For years now we have been crying out for the people that run our game to have a bit of pride and self-respect in what they do in regards to the game in Scotland. For years we have been plundered for absolute gems at nominal fees in football terms and Hickey, Ferguson and Doig are just the latest. Hickey just completed an £18 million move to Brentford in the Premier League and will no doubt move to a higher club from there once he develops more.
Former Celtic star Liam Henderson has been cutting it in the Serie A for a while now and has proven he is a quality midfielder, otherwise he wouldn’t be starting every week for an Italian team. One of the key attributes you need to play in Italy is technical ability and he has certainly proved it. Likewise, Ferguson had a bad year last season but Aberdeen were rank for most of it. There is no denying in the correct system under the right manager he could flourish, and same goes for Doig. There’s a reason he has been scouted extensively – including by Celtic; the boy has talent.
We must stop underselling our game and give our young players the best chance possible in a strong environment to grow. Celtic should also be at the forefront of having the best Scottish players available. For too long now we have let teams in England cherry pick the best of the crop in the Scottish Premiership. That must stop and we must be willing to pay appropriately for major talents. It’s the only way to preserve our strong core of home grown players.
Hopefully the money that clubs like Hearts, Aberdeen and Hibs have earned from Italian football in recent times can allow them to strengthen their own squads and make the standard of the Scottish Premiership even better.
Paul Gillespie
It’s because it’s completely biased towards the establishment clubs ( the dead one previously, and the current entity ) that very talented youngsters are not allowed to shine for fear of being punished , either by the Scottish Freemasonary Assiciation , or indeed their own clubs , who don’t tow the prerequisite line