Bournemouth have made an appointment Celtic should notice after the Camilo Duran deal. They have hired a scout whose only job is to find players in South America.
Celtic got Duran after Qarabag had already identified, signed and developed him. The £5.5m fee may still prove good value, but Qarabag were the club who found him first.
Bournemouth have now added a specialist whose job is to find those players in South America. Celtic need to find more of these players before another club gets there first.
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What do we make of Camilo Duran?
Bournemouth’s South America move should interest Celtic
Camilo Francka announced on 13 July that he had joined Bournemouth as a first-team scout for South America. He said he was joining a project the club had already been building in the region.
Francka worked as a match analyst at Vélez Sarsfield and was later listed as an AS Monaco scout. Bournemouth have hired someone with experience in South American football and European scouting.
Bournemouth have already gone directly to Brazil for players. They paid an initial £24.7m to sign Rayan from Vasco da Gama in January, before the forward was named in Brazil’s World Cup squad months later.
The fee was hardly a bargain punt. What matters is that Bournemouth went straight to the club that developed him.
Celtic already have South American scouting experience
Celtic already employ a scout with experience in that market. James Bell-Walker joined in January after working as Chelsea’s regional coordinator in South America and helping scout Andrey Santos and Estêvão.
Bell-Walker’s appointment will be judged on the players Celtic find. Qarabag paid about £200,000 for Duran before selling him to Celtic for around £5.5m.
Celtic have not necessarily overpaid. They did, however, pay Qarabag for finding Duran early and turning him into a striker who scored five Champions League goals.
Celtic do not need to copy Bournemouth and hand out another job title. They need that South American knowledge to bring players to Celtic before another club gets there first.
Celtic paid Qarabag after they found and developed Duran. The next one should be found by Celtic.
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