Wednesday 13 November 2019 08:09, UK
Football clubs and agents meet at the annual Wyscout forum in Amsterdam this week, ready to discuss business for the January transfer window and beyond.
Guests will be shown the latest additions to Wyscout's scouting technology before embarking on the 'speed-dating' of player recruitment, with clubs and agents meeting in public and in secret to build on their existing networks within the game.
But what is Wyscout? Who uses it? Why do the biggest clubs and biggest player agencies in the world send representatives to its forum every year?
Wyscout is a digital subscription service - available on desktop, mobile and tablet - that collects and presents player performance data and video from more than 500 leagues worldwide, going as far down as youth and semi-pro levels in even the more obscure countries.
Club recruitment teams and player agents have been using it to track the development of players for years now, monitoring the next prospects from far and wide, using it to find new targets or to keep an eye on their existing players at home or out on loan.
Players themselves have begun to use it to monitor their development and that of their opponents in order to improve their game. Last year, Sky Sports featured Chelsea's Willian and the reasons why the Brazilian utilises Wyscout himself in his own time.
His father Severino da Silva told Sky Sports: "Wyscout is the perfect tool for any football professional. It has everything I need to monitor Willian's performance as well as other top players around Brazil and the world over."
Wyscout's intention is for footballers at all levels, whether at elite pro or Sunday league, to download the app and use it to educate themselves.
Chief executive and founder Matteo Campodonico told Sky Sports last year: "In the elite of football, we really did a great job, but of course we cannot stop there. We hope to do more. The dream is not finished.
"When we started, the dream was it would be great if everyone in football uses it. I do hope that one day any player in the world will have Wyscout. I started Wyscout personally because my coach taught me football through videos. He showed me Marco van Basten and Roberto Baggio. I remember any action he showed me.
"We are studying this kind of interaction. We believe Wyscout is an educational tool for any player in the world."
At the forum, clubs from across Europe host a table at which agents and other industry officials can book time to make their proposals and get to know what clubs are looking for.
CEO Campodonico believes most transfers begin with the Wyscout platform, and the forum allows for relationships - even the more unlikely ones - to be struck up in the hope of a club finding the next unearthed gem.
The Wyscout forum takes place on November 13 and 14 at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam. You can download the Wyscout mobile app yourself here.
