Jake's Road Report is Gemini Sports founder Jake Schuster’s weekly update from professional football's frontlines. Jake travels globally, meeting club executives to share candid insights on AI's role in football. These raw, actionable thoughts are delivered weekly, with meeting details kept confidential and specific intel omitted.
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I was speaking with a prominent scout from a well-known European club last week when he made a fascinating observation: "Everyone's trying to be so cool, chasing the latest untapped market—last year it was Scandinavia, this year it's Eastern Europe—but they’re missing so much talent right in front of them."
He's absolutely right. While scouts globe-trot in search of the next Norwegian wonderkind, there are academy players buried fourth on the depth chart at bigger clubs, completely invisible to the market.
The math doesn’t lie: Chelsea, for example, signs countless academy prospects at 14-16 because they're clearly talented enough for that investment. These aren't random selections. They represent the cream of the youth football crop across multiple continents. Yet by 17, most are trapped behind established hierarchies, forgotten by an industry obsessed with exotic discoveries and the new “it” market.
The scouting logic is backwards. We'll spend months evaluating a 17-year-old in Norway, factoring in development pathways, cultural adaptation and work permit complications. Meanwhile, that equally talented Norwegian teenager's peer sits on Chelsea's bench, proven in English football systems, with no visa requirements, available for a fraction of the investment.
These buried prospects offer everything scouts claim to want—verified talent, professional training environments, cultural familiarity and immediate availability. And they're hidden in plain sight at every major academy.
The market inefficiency is staggering. Clubs pay premium prices for unproven international prospects while established academies quietly release or loan out players who would command significant fees if discovered elsewhere.
Smart teams should be systematically monitoring the bench players at top academies—not for future stars, but for immediate value. The next breakthrough signing may not be in an untapped market around the world. Sometimes, they're sitting on the bench at the club down the road.
