David Moss has given a telling insight into Celtic’s successful scouting network.
The former Falkirk midfielder spent seven years on the inside working his way up from the club Academy to dealing with first team players.
During the summer he left the hoops to become Director of Football at Huddersfield Town where he found success before a surprise parting of the ways.
Like most people involved in scouting he’d rather discuss Moussa Dembele and Virgil van Dijk than Teemu Pukki and Mo Bangura but a revealing interview in The Guardian provided a rare look inside the scouting network that is essential to the footballing and business side of the club.
Confirming the key criteria Moss said: “The most we could pay would be around £3m, and we had two criteria: did the player have the ability and character to compete against the likes of Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, AC Milan? And did they have the potential to be sold at a huge profit?
“Victor Wanyama, Fraser Forster, Virgil van Dijk, Moussa Dembele – all had that huge potential. The big clubs all knew about them but found faults and reasons not to pursue them. If you’re receiving £100m every year, why take risks? You can wait for a club like Celtic to do that and if you have to pay through the nose further down the line for the finished article, so be it. But you can see a Rolls Royce of a player early.
“I used to say to Premier League clubs: ‘Van Dijk is a man playing in a playground against kids, he stands out so much. He’s 6ft 4in, can ping it from one end of the field to the other, can head it, scores goals, is quick … he’s got everything.’ And they’d still go and buy someone else. I’d despair.
“I was aware of Dembélé when he came over to Fulham from PSG, and all the Premier League clubs had watched him in the Championship. He wasn’t the quickest – he’s not slow, either – but he’s got great presence, is a natural finisher, and has a big-game mentality. The bigger the game, the cooler he is. Once it was clear he wasn’t going to sign a new contract at Fulham, that deal was perfect for us. English clubs would have to go to a tribunal and pay up to £5m for him, but Scotland is considered ‘cross border’ so we only had to pay £400,000 in compensation. He’s only 21 and is a dark horse to go with France to the World Cup. The bigger the game, the bigger his contribution. I’ve seen the suggestions he might go for £18m this window, but he’d still be cheap at £30m.”
Looking at one of the ones that got away Moss added: “The (Steve) Mounie deal was a big one, £11m up front and potentially £13m to Montpellier, but to be there at Palace on the opening day of the season – you know all the work that’s gone in behind the scenes to make that happen, and then your record signing goes and scores two goals to give you a flying start.
“It’s unfortunate he’s had an injury since, but Laurent Depoitre was another we’d tried for at Celtic. He’d made the wrong move by leaving Gent for Porto for £6m: he’s not a Latin-type player. He’s made for English or German football, so his value had gone down since to a bargain €2.5m.”
Moss left Huddersfield in November and is now working as an agent.
