Arsenal’s scouting network is among one of the best in world football, but the streamline team who file daily reports on players world wide are largely unknown.
Sandro Orlandelli is one of the key members of the network, covering all of South America, and has also been one of the most fruitful in recent years. During the Christmas weekend, Sandro took time out from his schedule to speak with Brazilian radio station Globo about all things scouting.
Orlandelli began by explaining his route into the trade, and how he earned his way to Arsenal.
“I used to play Futsal in the streets before I had an opportunity to graduate in Physical Education and then specialize in sports physiology. When I stopped playing, I got a job working for the youth team of São Paulo, mostly with the female team while working my way to coach the Academy players. I stayed there for four years.”
“Then I went to Corinthians, and I started having invitations to work outside Brazil, something I always wanted to do. I worked in Yokohama FC, Japan, in Saint Etienne, France, in both cases as a scout and then for Al-Hillal, Saudi Arabia, as assistant coach and physical trainer. Finally for Malmo in Sweden. So then I had the opportunity to do an internship at Arsenal. Once there, I was in contact with the board and there was a demand for a scout in Latin America.”
Orlandelli has earned a respected reputation under Arsène Wenger, and after years of building contacts and laying the foundations that all scouts need, the club have begun making signings based on Sandro’s recommendations.
“This is my ninth year here at Arsenal and five players have been bought because of me. Denílson, who is doing very well at the moment, Pedro Botelho, Brazilian left back who is now on loan, playing in the Spanish second division, Damian Martinez, Argentine goalkeeper, Carlos Vela, who was the first signing the club made under me, and also Wellington Silva, who is one of our biggest prospects for the future”.
Sandro went on to talk about his ‘scout intuition’, which he trusts even when scouts from other clubs disagree. However, one thing that is always hard to judge, is how foreign imports will settle. Accusations of Brazilian players in particular not settling and causing trouble have been common place, and this is something Arsenal’s man in South America believes the Gunners have side stepped.
“Unfortunately there are still some depreciation in the behavior of Brazilians in Europe, but at Arsenal we only had good examples, cases of Sylvinho, Edu, Gilberto Silva and Denílson of now. The big issue is that many kids do not understand that there is a need to adapt to the reality to which they will live to be successful in football country.”
The South American market is certainly a massive one for the future, and with Orlandelli already well established and respected out there, Arsenal have a big foot hold in a very important market.
Cool read.
haha but with Denilson they didnt make their homework!! Worst midfielder in Arsenal`s history!!!
in history!!! get some perspective, jansen, hillier, mccoldrick,the list would be massive
Arsenal4ever do you know anything about football, you can have your opinions but why do you have to be rude and disrespectful to one of our players. He is obviously not one of the Arsenal greats yet but give him time and we will see. In the meantime a bit of encouragement is much more helpful than childish insults.
You know fuck all about football in general and Arsenal FC in particular.
Arsenal4ever? More like till you jump ship like the plastic glory hunter you are.
@arsenal4ever: add vela too
And you are a biggest moron in history
Least we have the name of the guy who is getting all the south american tat “Denílson, who is doing very well at the moment” is he for real? As for Vela… We need to start looking else where if you ask me.
Weren’t you one of the people creaming their pants and getting angry when Wellington didn’t his visa?
Yet here you are.
Veske go support the spuds you idiot!! I have my oppinion and you yours but most of Arsenal fans think Denilson isnt good enough.
There’s a big difference between not being good enough at the moment and being ‘the worst midfielder in Arsenal’s history’ That’s why you’re an idiot mate.
“most of Arsenal fans” – wow! how many people did you ask?! I think Denilson is a very good midfielder. Unfortunately, he’s got Jack Wilshere to deal with now.
Maybe it’s you who need to go off and support the Spurs. Last time i read an article here, i saw someone bashing Arsenal-players. His name “arsenal4ever”.
i trust denilson to turn up with a performance in big games more than diaby. denilson does have a bit of the ‘invisible’ of him though, which is maybe why fans don’t rate him so much. we’d all prefer a very visible bulldozer of a player, but vieira’s don’t come along very often.
gilberto was invisible and we certainly miss him still.
my problem with denilson is his lack of pace to track back
vela isn’t performing because of the way the team is playing nowadays. he’s a counterattacker, he’s built to get in behind and run away from opposition defences. nobody lets us play on the counter any more, so vela has been rendered useless. he’s still a massive talent though. in most other teams he’d be great. when he has space to run he can rip teams to bits. he’s a great talent.
i’d still sell denilson and vela for £10m each, that would be decent, fair business.
i think vela is a talent, but if he or any one else does not fit in with our playing style then they should be sold to make space and funds for players who do fit
i’d prefer changing our playing style to bring out the best in our best talents – and I would include Vela in that group, alongside Arshavin, RVP, Nasri, Fabregas, Song, and Vermaelen.
what good is a system that doesn’t allow matchwinning talents to influence things.
Christ on a bike so many ‘experts’.
The jury is still out on both players but what is undoubted is that they have the skill to make it at the very top level.
Denilson led the league in interceptions and is still young, massively experienced and coveted by other premier league teams and abroad. He recently played a match where he had a 100% pass success rate and has a good habit of scoring important goals. He might not make it at The Arsenal but thats to do with stiff competition for starting berths. Regardless he is a talented footballer witha a good future.
Vela is still only 21 for fucks sake. To give one of many examples Ashley Cole didn’t break into the first team until he was 23. He has shown glimpses of sublime class. Will he make it here? Who fucking knows – thats part of the fun of watching the drama unfold.
All of you self-appointed experts would throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Honestly SOME of the comments on this site make you sound like fickle imbeciles with delusions of grandeur.
Keep some perspective.
Nuff said.
Ashley Cole was Arsenal’s starting leftback at 19 and England’s #1 at 20.
Thans jonny for an adult and sensible post, you echo my sentiments completely.
Wellaid Johnny mate. Pric ks like dan and the rest embarrass the fuck out of the club and its so called support.
Denilson, worst midfielder ever??!! Surely you can’t have forgotten a certain mr Glen ‘sexual chocolate’ Helder?
In all seriousness though, Denilson may not be a the first name on the team sheet when everyone’s fit but he does have qualities that others haven’t, making him effective against certain types of teams and a useful sub when the game needs a little more grit in the centre of the park.
Thanks Jamie… an interesting read.
“Wellington Silva, who is one of our biggest prospects for the future”
is the most interesting part
I knew I shouold have checked that fact. Well I was slightly wrong on the facts maybe but your point does not tell the whole story (he was put out on loan at Crystal Palace after a few starts for the Arsenal. He didn’t nail a regular Arsenal first team spot until he was just shy of 21 – due to Silvinho gettiung injured).
Regardless it was a poor example, 21 or 23 there are numerous examples of players not showing real progression until they are 23 upwards. In fact I would go as far to say it’s the norm.
For instance Drogba only signed his first contract when he was 21, and was really nothing special till his mid-20s.
@Jonny the non slading scale these so called fans use to judge a player would have meant Zidane would not have made to professional level ,Ian Wright would have been a painter and decorator (At best)
I pray Mr wenger remains a stubborn as he is now . Because if he did not have back bone and an unswervable belief in his on vision as if he listened to the so called pundits we would not have bought Vieira,Overmars,Petit,Anelka,Gilberto and so many more besides. All these armchair experts we have as fans who think they know it all because they managed to buy Messi for 700 million on FM or what ever “Computer Game” they play whilst they are waiting for the call from the big club to come and manage them .When Wenger went to buy T Henry he was called a fool and it was looked on as a waste of money .
Claiming Carlos Vela is a bit bold. We got him after he lead mexico to the u17 world cup. If he is claiming him then i am to because i watched that world cup lol.
Also last time I checked, mexico is not in south america.
Looks like someone got an atlas for Xmas! I think he probably has Latin America on his remit too then.
Part of claiming a player is negotiating his purchase. So maybe 5 teams are looking at a player and Arsenal are able to capture him. Usually the scout with all the connections is given credit for this player.
Deary me, as soon as I read THAT part of the article, I knew the comments would be chock a block with discussions about Denilson. I’m glad to see there are a lot more reasonable comments about the boy’s talent than there are morons slagging him off.
@Boring boring fan
I love listening to those ‘stubborn’ comments against the manager. What they actually mean by that is that the manager isn’t doing what they think should be done.
Because as we all know, the most successful managers ignore their own knowledge and experience and just do what the most vocal and deluded fans and journalists tell him to!
arssenal4ever – so I should go support spuds because you are a moron? That’s some weird logic right there
YES! YES! YES! YES!
YYYYEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!
Sorry JS, I know this is about the senior team. But I’m so sick of losing to rotten Chelsea.
We played extremely well today! Great Great Win for the boys!!!!!
GUNNERS GUNNERS GUNNERS !!!!!!
the people that say Denilson are shit are the same people that moan about Song going forwards to score crucial goals. they always moan anyway. nobody really cares about them. let them moan. its their miserable life anyway. gunner4ever is especially miserable. he hates when we win.
O dear I think my club has some stupid stupid fans.
To say that Vela and Denilson are crap shows you people know nothing about football.
They are not bad players, just need time as they are still young.
Arsenal team to play Wigan:
GK: Fabianski
LB: Clichy
RB: Eboue
CB: Djourou
CB: Kosicielny
CM: Song
CM: Denilson
CM: Diaby
RM: Rosicky
LM: Arshavin
ST: Chamak
That’s a terrible team mate.
walcott is english and he took him longtime to breakthrough. i believe vela’s time will come.
if denilson is the worst midfielder in arsenal history this means remi garde,giles grimandi, john jensen, alberto mendes are all ahead of him?
YOU PEOPLE ARE GENIUS
you can junichi inamoto and amauri bischoff in your list ahead of denilson.
J.S. Who was responsible for scouting Silvinho, Edu, Edmilson (almost) and Gilberto Silva?
seriously
any arsenal fan who hates denilson is a complete fool
big fool
Denilson is one of the only arsenal players, who just stays out, passes well, marks.. and is never intimidated..
Just that he body size is perfectly suited for la liga not EPL..yet he still manages to impress me
serious
Arsenal fans are the most annoying fans in the EPL
we are spoilt, very spoilt
and yes am a Gunner
I’m also firmly in the Denilson > Diaby camp. Denilson is not only a solid passer and tackler, he also presses well and keeps things going for us. He is not so attack minded, but that’s fine, because we have other players in that role. Diaby on the other hand is slow thinking, constantly caught in possession and always injured. Oh and Song, played well today. Why? He was disciplined defensively.
im sorry mate not all of us are spoilt I believe what ever wenger does I support other than the sale of cole personally I would of let him rot in the stands or got a shit load of money for him rather than Gallas (don’t get me wrong he was a good player for us but we should of gotten more) as few of you have already said, He’s a good player and brings something to the team that we had when Flamini was here.
Arsenal team to play Wigan:
FABIANSKI
SAGNA
KOSCIELNY
DJOUROU
CLICHY
WILSHERE
SONG
DIABY
ARSHAVIN
CHAMAKH
NASRI
Arsenal team to play Wigan:
GK: Szczesny
CB: Eboue
CB: Squillaci
CB: Miquel
MF: Diaby
MF: Rosicky
MF: Denilson
MF: Arshavin
LWF: Vela
RWF: Chamakh
CF: Bendtner
yes yes Denilson wasnt even in the squad. Hopefully he is off!!
Did you go out of your way to find the creepiest picture of Denilson?