Target Scouting

𝗪𝗘 𝗔𝗥𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗩𝗘! We are excited to launch our new website. On this website, we will continue to post scout reports. Take a look at our website and stay tuned because new content is coming soon 👇 targetscouting.com

When people apply to write for Target Scouting, we always tell them: Make sure to write your reports in the Target Scouting style. But what is the Target Scouting style? In the Target Scouting Community (TSC) website, you will soon find a full guide on how to write a scout report in our style. DM us with your email address if you want to receive an email when we are launching.

Now off to @1FSVMainz05:

Work in progress. Send your email address to our DM if you are interested in joining the TS Community, as we will send you an invite when the website is launching.

Link to the full report here: targetscouting.com/2026/05/18/mit…

Mitchell Baker (CF, '06, 🇦🇺) is a prolific and physically gifted striker in NCAA Division I who was recently drafted in the MLS SuperDraft, according to @a_mc80. Read more below👇

We receive many messages and emails from aspiring scouts who want to write guest reports for Target Scouting, which is something that we are very proud of. To facilitate this, we are thinking about setting up a new platform: TS Community. This would be a platform where anyone can submit their match and scout reports to the community. We would love to expand our community and think this aligns perfectly with the mission of Target Scouting. On this platform, you will be able to store your reports, set up a private database with the TS rating system and learn from each other. Before starting this project, we first want to know if people would be interested in this. Let us know with a like, reply or direct message.

@to_amajewski Exactly.

It's ridiculous on the club's site as well. Many clubs try to build a network of scout based on interns. Who are you supposed to learn from with no experience then? You need senior, experienced scouts who can give feedback on your work and guide you.

@desapixels You can send an email to us (targetscouting1(at)gmail(dot)com)

@TargetScouting_ I'm an aspiring scout based in Ghana, how do I reach out to you for collaborations?

RE: Internships in the scouting world Whether you are a professional or aspiring scout, I am pretty certain you have come across scouting vacancies before where you have a chance to join a club for 6-12 months on an unpaid internship. Within the football industry, this is seemingly normalised in the past years as many clubs have made use of these so-called internships. At some clubs, they’re using tons of volunteers while at other clubs, they’re using one or two interns who have an opportunity to become a part- or full-time scout for the club after their internship ends. I think the main reason why this is still normalised is because the supply is way higher than the demand. Easier said, there are a lot more aspiring scouts than jobs. If someone declines a job as a volunteer or intern, there are fifteen others who would accept this offer. This is also one of the reasons why many scouts are underpaid. My opinion on unpaid jobs is that it’s ridiculous and unethical. You should be paid to do any job, especially in the cases (not every case I know of) where you’re forced to produce an X amount of reports per week. There is hardly any other sector where this is normalised. However, I don’t believe clubs will change as long as the supply is higher than the demand. If you do decide to become an unpaid volunteer or intern, be sure that you’re getting something in return and that you’re doing it on your terms. Gain experience, learn from full-time scouts and reassess the situation after six months. I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject, especially when you’ve been in this situation before.

I also believe most unpaid interns won’t understand at all which targets are realistic for the club they’re working for. I unfortunately can not mention names or clubs, but let’s say I recently came across a scout who was watching prime Messi, Iniesta and Xavi while scouting for Rayo Vallecano (very random example).

It is a tricky situation nevertheless. As long as you’re gaining experience by having an experienced mentor, you’re getting a lot of feedback on your reports and you’re actually getting some intel on how decisions are made, I think there’s an upside to working as an intern. However, I believe if you’re an intern for (with all due respect) some small European team where you’re just used for some free reports and knowledge, there’s almost no upside to working as an unpaid intern. You will also not get a grasp on how the football industry actually works.

Target Scouting's Sudamericano U17 coverage - Argentina U17 #2 In our second part of our Sudamericano U17 coverage, @AlexisScouting covers Argentina U17 👇 🇦🇷 Juan Cruz Policella (LW, Vélez Sarsfield) 🇦🇷 Giovanni Baroni (AM, CA Talleres) 🇦🇷 Simon Escobar (LB, Vélez Sarsfield)

A lot of people have the dream to become a professional football scout, but only a few are willing to put in the work to realise this dream. This might sound very harsh, but it’s the reality. Everyone romanticises the football industry, but the truth could not be further away from this. It is something you unfortunately have to accept before starting to work as a scout. You don’t become a scout overnight. Everyone has a different path, but usually it takes a longer period of consistent effort to attract interest from people within the industry. Some of the major things I’ve noticed over the past years: 1. Aspiring scouts will have short periods of crazy output before fading away for months. It’s better to post something every two weeks instead of posting 10 scout reports in a month before not posting any in the next 5 months. 2. Aspiring scouts will put quantity over quality. A simple tweet with some strengths, weaknesses and a rating won’t land you a job. Well-structured scout reports could potentially land you a job. 3. I mentioned this before on my personal account but your work is always noticed and talked about by someone in the industry. I’ve sometimes been impressed and talked about someone’s work to other scouts, but I also sometimes talked about someone’s poor behaviour or online presence to other scouts. Scouts will look at your entire online presence, not just your portfolio. Besides networking, my advice to any aspiring scout would be to create a format that works for yourself. Post weekly scout reports but watch enough footage. Discuss the game with other aspiring scouts or football enthusiasts. Ask for feedback to people inside the football industry. And… be patient! Next time I will talk about the culture within football clubs, and more specifically internships.

Target Scouting's Sudamericano U17 coverage - Paraguay U17 #1 In our first part of our Sudamericano U17 coverage, @matskienhuis covers Paraguay U17 👇 🇵🇾 Kevin Amarilla (LB, Olimpia Asunción) 🇵🇾 Elias Diaz (RCB, Club Libertad)

Link to the full report here: targetscouting.com/2026/05/11/ril…

Riley Moloney (LB, '05, 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿) is a mature presence both in and out of possession, according to @a_mc80. Read more below👇

@LayLowLogician Gonna tweet about this in a few days. Sometimes you can’t argue with a player who signs a big contract because they come from a poor area.

@TargetScouting_ Those big contracts are tempting tho.

I think Willian Pacho is the perfect example of how important career decisions are in a player’s career, which is a fairly obvious statement in itself. Willian Pacho came through the famous Independiente del Valle youth academy, which we have written about several times before. At that time, he was far from well-developed physically and his decision-making was fairly average. Pacho joined Antwerp and was partnered with Toby Alderweireld, who (as a mentor) reportedly played a huge part in Pacho’s career. After playing for Antwerp, Pacho went to another stepping stone club instead of immediately joining an elite club. Joining Frankfurt helped his development and after just one year he joined PSG, where he has now won the Champions League and is deemed as one of the best central defenders in the world. There are tons of reasons why a player might not fulfil their potential. Some simply had poor mentality and life choices outside of football, others made the jump to the big clubs too quickly, others were unlucky with injuries… and the list of reasons goes on. The bottom line of this tweet is that player development isn’t linear. Players can be on their peak at the age of 18 and disappear after, other players can be nowhere until the age of 25 and suddenly start performing. Sometimes it’s simply down to luck for a player. Just imagine a 2nd choice goalkeeper who suddenly gets a lot of playing time and breaks through because the 1st choice goalkeeper suffered a long-term injury.

📌🇨🇭Johan Manzambi – SC Freiburg Position: Central Midfield Date of Birth: 14/10/2005 Preferred Foot: Right Link to the video: x.com/TargetScouting… Johan Manzambi is a 20-year-old Swiss attack-minded box-to-box midfielder or no. 10 for SC Freiburg in the German Bundesliga. He stands at around 1.82 m with a lanky yet fairly strong frame, which gives him long, powerful strides. He covers lots of ground, being an explosive accelerator with elite long pace, gaining tons of separation. He is not dominant in duels yet, but is effective enough at shielding the ball from pressure, displaying quality press resistance at his current level. In possession, Manzambi’s strength is ball carrying, combining his creative dribbling in 1v1s with his athleticism to progress up both the middle channel and wide areas. He is comfortable receiving under pressure and on the half turn, which also allows him to cleanly combine play within two touches on either foot. He can break lines or spread play wide with his passing precisely, but is restricted by his decision-making losing a touch of speed. Regarding end product, he must become more precise when creating, though he often arrives in dangerous areas, followed by powerful yet inconsistent ball striking. Out of possession, Manzambi covers shadow attentively enough centrally and tracks runners well, though he can be late into duels. When shoulder-to-shoulder, he does not shy away from contact and can be overaggressive. He needs to improve his timing both there and when stepping into lanes to intercept. His recovery runs are strong and timely, while also allowing him to be disruptive when chasing. Manzambi has a high ceiling due to his elite athletic traits and skillful dribbling, which make him impressive in progression. He has a €50m asking price that will limit his movement options to European contenders, but these qualities make it a favorable gamble that he will adapt to the environment of a top Premier League club or Bayern Munich.

In the next report of our partnership with @Hudl and @Statsbomb, we've used their on-ball value (OBV) model and physical data to analyse Ryunosuke Sato (AM, '06, 🇯🇵). Take a look at their website to read more about their products. @a_mc80's full analysis here👇 targetscouting.com/2026/05/05/ryu…