Correct scouting at age-group creates spine: Stephen Constantine

Kolkata: National coach Stephen Constantine asserted the need to create a system wherein the process of scouting talent at the grassroots is correct.

"In most teams, there's a spine. It starts with a goalkeeper, ends with a striker. Down the middle of that spine, you need certain attributes. Down the sides, you need different attributes. The question is where are we looking and how are we looking," Constantine said on the conclusion of a two-day scouting workshop for coaches.

The AIFF-conducted its first scouting workshop in India targets to educate the scouts so that the players are identified correctly.

"We are not going to use them to scout from I-League and ISL. We want them to scout from age-groups, Santosh Trophy, universities, schools, anywhere football is being played in India, it should be scouted. We should know every player, in every state, every position so that we have a continuous flow of player coming through the systems," the chief coach said.

By continuing the roadmap, Constantine hopes they would produce players of the calibre of playing in European leagues.

"I hope, I believe we will take one, two, three of them who will scout on a regular basis, not only from Bengal but for the national team. First you scout (talent) for Bengal, then we will scout for national team from Bengal. It's  a process. It takes time but we are on the right track at the moment. So far so good."

The scouts will look for quality not quantity and they would not be from any particular age-group.

"Anything that moves. If it moves, we will scout it. It does not matter, if it's 8, 10, 15, 20, if he can find somewhere to put to his player. It does not really matter the age group," he said.