It’s always interesting to hear the stories about how some players are spotted by a certain club.
As someone who currently works as a scout, there are so many people in the game who will put all of their faith into analytics and looking at stats. This does mean that it’s sometimes easy to miss something that’s right in front of you.
READ MORE: Neil Lennon casts doubt over the prospect of Celtic park return for former hero
It seems to work for clubs like Brentford who will recruit based on certain stats and tendencies that analytics will show them, but sometimes you can’t beat a player turning up and playing well to grab your attention.
In a recent interview with Celtic TV, Neil Lennon gave some insight into how Jeremie Frimpong came to Celtic’s attention:
Cracking wee video about how Celtic spotted Jeremie Frimpong. #Celtic @JeremieFrimpong
🍀🍀🍀 pic.twitter.com/psObaxdjkM
— COYBIG (@C_O_Y_B_I_G) November 27, 2019
It sounds like he was fairly unknown to them before they played against Man City’s development squad. There wasn’t a great deal of expectation around him when he signed, but he’s blossomed into one of the most exciting players in the team.
Club’s down south are bad for stockpiling young players in the hope some of them make it through. We are yet to see if players like Armstrong Oko-Flex, Jonathan Afolabi or Lee O’Connor have the talent to make a similar impact, but it’s clear there are some genuine stars to be found.