Aston Villa have appointed Juanfran as their new scout. His new role at the club is to identify players to sign in the first-team and youth sides, and the 42-year-old has said that he’s been studying footage of the club to get a sense of what types of players they’ll need. Polled supporters were happy with his appointment, with 84% backing the decision.
Aston Villa appoint Juanfran to be a club scout. He's watched footage to learn our style and will eventually identify the type of players we need to recruit.
He'll also learn the "contractual, professional and personal situations" of #AVFC for his new role.
Good appointment?
— Crippy Cooke (@CrippyCooke) December 13, 2018
Juanfran retired from playing in 2016. He played for Levante, Valencia, Celta Vigo, Besiktas, Ajax, Real Zaragoza and AEK Athens, in addition to representing the Spanish national team on 11 occasions. His knowledge of Spain could be blessing to Villa, but Juanfran will be required to do much more than just scout one country.
He took the job after speaking to Jesus Garcia Pitarch and says he barely gave the Villa sporting director any time to finish his sentence before accepting the position. Juanfran is clear enthused to work for the Midlands outfit and says it’s a “privilege” to be at Villa Park.
The 42-year-old said in an interview with Marca: “The person who proposed it to me did not leave him or finish the sentence, it is a privilege and a privilege to work for a club like Aston Villa. Everyone identifies them as a big club from England and it’s a dream come true.
“The first thing is to have the maximum information of the clubs and of contractual, professional and personal situations Before I look at a player, I’ve had to watch a lot of videos from the Aston Villa to know how we play, to know the player model we are looking for, the more information you have, the better.”
Juanfran’s arrival suggests Villa will be spending money in January, although it’s unknown how much money will be made available.
Crippy Cooke’s previous article
Aston Villa ‘watched’ right-back and midfielder and are ‘considering making moves’ next summer
