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Star signs, social media and super-scouts - how Luis Campos became Europe's top talent-spotter

Antero Henrique of Paris Saint-Germain react with Luis Campos of Lille LOSC before the Ligue 1 match between Lille OSC and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) at Stade Pierre Mauroy on April 14, 2019 in Lille, France - Getty Images Europe /Xavier Laine 
Antero Henrique of Paris Saint-Germain react with Luis Campos of Lille LOSC before the Ligue 1 match between Lille OSC and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) at Stade Pierre Mauroy on April 14, 2019 in Lille, France - Getty Images Europe /Xavier Laine

Luís Campos has a unique way of describing how he likes to work. “Commando management,” the sporting director says as he discusses the meticulous checks he carries out before buying players - which even includes examining their star signs and social media activity - why Jose Mourinho is a “legend” and the deals he has been involved in from signing up Kylian Mbappe to selling Gabriel Magalhaes.

The 56-year-old Portuguese is between jobs at present having left Lille at the turn of the year, after transforming them into a Champions League team and French league leaders, as he did so spectacularly with Monaco, and with a CV that confirms his status as the world’s most successful talent spotter and team-builder.

Campos has been linked to Barcelona and Marseille as well as the Premier League where, he admits, he would one day like to “challenge” himself. “Yes,” he says when asked if he has had offers in the past. “But don’t expect me to give you names.” Instead Campos is happy to discuss his approach, why watching how a player ‘warms up’ is vital and how clubs are working in a “wartime economy” when it comes to transfers because of the Covid crisis.

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“The Campos method is based on 30 years of experience and collecting information,” he explains. “I own my own database and go into the smallest details. I’m always able to give nine players – in three different price categories – in every position for any team and any championship in the world. I can tailor this.”

Campos likes to work with a small group of “super-scouts”, usually just six divided across “six world areas”, who are always travelling but never stay in any area for more than two months at a time. “They don’t know each other’s reports,” Campos says. “Everyone ends up giving an opinion about the same player and in this way when three scouts point me to a ‘top talent’ it is time for me to study them as deeply as possible.”

Campos looks on as Lille play Angers  - Icon Sport /Johnny Fidelin 
Campos looks on as Lille play Angers - Icon Sport /Johnny Fidelin

The process is incredibly thorough.

Campos is well-versed in data, analytics, artificial intelligence and has even constructed a bespoke algorithm for each player and each country, championship and team but the most important recruitment tool remains his own eyes. It is why Campos is well-known for his globetrotting, living out of a suitcase and arriving at games early, sitting in the stands to observe how players prepare for matches. Why does he do that?

“Feelings, emotions...” he says. “We're human, aren't we? The best players are born competitors. It is in their DNA.

“A good combination of data can give us important information about a player's competitiveness and character. The complement for me is the look, the analysis on the field, the sensitivity determined by many years of experience. It is then much easier not to make mistakes. I want to feel this DNA before the game during the game and after the game. It’s fundamental.

“The best players are emotionally very well-balanced and 100 per cent focused in their jobs. I am not only looking for good players I am looking as well for interesting people. Players capable of making a commitment to a club's sports project. It is very important to analyse and study the reactions in different scenarios and contexts, to understand the body language of a player in different situations and moments of the game and of his life.

“It is like an iceberg. On TV or videos you only see the smallest part above the water. I am very interested as well in what’s happening under the water and for this you have to be in the stadium.”

The analysis also involves checking “family, friends, hobbies” and even what the player achieved at school. “The sum of small bad details can become a big problem,” Campos says adding that he has developed software that checks on social media – “the analysis of the use of social networks allows us to have important personality traits” – and looks at astrology. “All details are important when paying millions for the purchase of a player,” Campos says.

“A bad purchase can ruin a club. That is why being a sports director is a very responsible position. And I am one of those who think that we cannot be ‘immune decision makers’. We have to pay for the consequences of our actions. Building a good team means knowing how to put the individual – a piece of the puzzle – at the service of the collective; the complete puzzle. You can buy 11 good players and not build a good team.”

Soccer Football - World Cup - Round of 16 - France vs Argentina - Kazan Arena, Kazan, Russia - June 30, 2018 France's Kylian Mbappe scores their third goa - Reuters /MICHAEL DALDER 
Soccer Football - World Cup - Round of 16 - France vs Argentina - Kazan Arena, Kazan, Russia - June 30, 2018 France's Kylian Mbappe scores their third goa - Reuters /MICHAEL DALDER

It has worked. Campos’s success is legendary. Having been employed by Mourinho as a scout at Real Madrid he launched the careers or bought and sold Mbappe, Fabinho, Bernardo Silva, Anthony Martial, Benjamin Mendy, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Thomas Lemar at Monaco where they won the French title in 2017 – beating Paris Saint-Germain – and reached the Champions League semi-finals in 2017. Incredibly the sales were worth more than one billion euros (£880 million).

Campos left for Lille where he developed Nicolas Pepe, who Arsenal bought for a club record £72 million and who, he feels, is now coming good. “Pepe always played better in the second season,” Campos explains. “This year he seems to me to be closer to his potential, which is a lot. But have you ever thought that it can be a piece that doesn't fit that puzzle? Or have you already analysed whether all the conditions were created for him to perform?”

Lille also bought and sold Gabriel, Victor Osimhen, Thiago Mendes and Rafael Leao with assets such as Boubakary Soumare, Sven Botman, Jonathan Bamba and Jonathan Ikone at the club and in demand as well as coach Christophe Galtier who he also chose. The team Campos left is valued at more than £270 million. Sales have reached £400 million. It is phenomenal. Campos’s record drips with success and he will pick his next club carefully as he insists it is not about the money.

“More important than the money involved is my great passion for the contribution that I can make to my club and my coach, in the acquisition of high-potential and high-level players, that allows him through the training to get the team playing well and winning games,” Campos explains.

“The management structure is very important. For me ‘small is beautiful’. I believe in ‘commando management’ – with the president, the sport director and the coach. They are the key people in a modern football club with strong leadership and fast decision-makers. At the end it optimises the club resources and saves a huge amount of time and energy and is very important in the ‘wartime economy’ that we are in now.”

Luis Campos's six best signings
Luis Campos's six best signings

The Premier League is tempting with Campos previously strongly linked to Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur. “The Premier League is considered as one of the most competitive championships in the world. As a competitor obviously I would like the challenge but it has to be in the right timing with the right club and the right people,” Campos states.

Is that United where, apparently, Mourinho wanted him when he was manager and the links persist? “This is something I don’t want to talk about. I have too much respect for Jose and Manchester United to comment on confidential subjects,” Campos says. But is he surprised United have not hired a director of football? “I am nobody to judge a club and institution like Manchester United,” he says before adding: “Again, I told you already that in my vision of a modern football club management the presence and the role of a sporting director is fundamental.

“The best clubs in the world like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Olympique de Marseille are always looking to get the best professionals to optimise their sport and financial results... I consider myself today privileged to be in the short list of clubs of this profile... And obviously feel proud and honoured about it.”

His history and friendship with Mourinho goes back many years – since Campos was a coach in Portugal – and he is adamant he is the best manager he has ever worked with. “Jose is an amazing leader and his requirement level for himself and his team is just out of this world,” Campos argues while dismissing the criticism Mourinho has faced. “I just know by experience that in football everything goes so quick, one day you are a zero and one month later you are a hero… Mourinho is a legend of our sport. I do not forget the many trophies that Jose has already won and, also, I am convinced that I will still win many more.”

So will he and Mourinho ever work together again? “I am always looking to work with the best professionals in the world and, for me, Jose is part of this very select group in the football industry,” Campos says. “And if one day it happens, it will happen naturally.”