It is the dream of every young, aspiring footballer to make it to the top in his or her chosen career and it’s important to know exactly what professional football scouts is looking for.

Almost every established club in the world with good structures usually employ scouts, either on part-time or full time basis to help search for talents that can potentially take over the baton when the older ones leave the stage.

Football scouts attend football matches on the behalf of clubs to collect intelligence. Primarily, there are two types of scouts: player scouts and tactical scouts. Player scouts or physical scouts evaluate the talent of footballers with a view to signing them on a professional contract for their employers.

As such, these scouts go round the globe to fulfil their mandate where they organize football trials to carefully pick the kind of talents they need.

So as young, budding footballer, there are certain traits these scouts search for beyond the raw talents you have.
In as much the raw talents and natural abilities a young footballer has play a huge role, they are not enough to get him or her that platform to develop. It is an open secret that most football scouts hate nothing more than unfulfilled talent.

So what other attributes are these football scouts looking for beyond raw talents and natural ability.

TECHNICAL ABILITY

Technical abilities are the skills and knowledge needed to perform specific tasks, in this case, football.
Having these skills doesn’t mean you need to be performing fancy flicks and tricks like Neymar.

Rather, the scouts will assess you on your physical attributes, your dribbling, tackling, shooting, heading, passing and first touch will be assessed in the context of the game.

So, as a young footballer, you will need to demonstrate a good first touch and ease on the ball regardless of your position. If you lose the balls too much, your chances of being picked fades away.

Basically, having all the skills but you don’t know how to use them will not in any way give you that space. It will count for nothing if these skills are not used positively on the field.

Take for example, Cristiano Ronaldo is a talented player but he worked his ass off to get to level he is now. Talent didn’t just take him to the top but using the talents well.

TACTICAL ABILITY

This refers to your tactical awareness to read the game well and identify the spaces that can be exploited during the game. We can call this ‘football IQ’ where the scouts will be watching every move you make with and without the ball. A lot of scouts spend more time looking at players without the ball than with it.

A players like Andres Iniesta, Xavi are regarded as one of the most intelligent players because of his abilities to read a game well and orchestrate proceedings on the field of play.

PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES

In the modern football, size and appearance are not as important as they used to be but the player must demonstrate an element of strength, balance and poise on and off the ball.

Football is a physical game and it is very important the players have the stamina to complete a game.

Let’s take for example, N’Golo Kante who has a small body but is a work horse. The Chelsea man has so much stamina despite his small frame.

A lot of scouts will simply want to make sure that your physique and other physical attributes don’t put you at a disadvantage.

A player’s ability to take a knock and still stay on your feet while keeping up with the pace of the game is a major plus for the scouts.

[b]Read more at [/b]https://thesportsbay.com/how-to-win-the-hearts-of-football-scouts/.html

You forgot to add;

MONEY:if you don't have money in Nigeria, your talent and technicality no help anybody

LONG LEGS: Also known as "Ima mmadu"
My brother even with your money, if you no get oga at the top to push your name... Sometimes your money na rubbish.. Dem go chop and clean mouth.

GRACE: Being lucky doesn't mean you should be a total JJC... Some players picked may not be as good as those who weren't picked.
That's where grace comes in.