What a scout does at a football club
A scout is the person who travels around grounds looking for talented players to recommend to his club. In the academy, he is the one who brings the youngsters in.
In real football scouts travel to watch youth and lower-league matches to find the next star before anyone else; a good eye can save a club millions. In manager games the scout is usually an employee you hire, whose quality defines how good the players he finds are.
In ELDT scouts bring proposals of youngsters every fortnight, on the 1st and the 16th of each month. You can have up to 3 at the same time, in 4 levels: Junior, Experienced, Senior and Elite. The higher levels cost more (from $500,000 for a Junior to $25,000,000 for an Elite, plus a weekly wage), bring more kids and have better odds of finding a gem or a star. The level changes the odds, it does not set a floor: any scout can bring a kid of any potential. Each scout specialises in a region, and if 60 days pass without a gem your scouts' luck slowly improves.
Do not confuse him with the Market Analyst among the employees: that one does not bring players, he lets you see the potential and attributes of players at other clubs. Without an analyst they appear approximate; the higher his level, the more exact they are.
See it in the game: the manager's guide.
Related terms
See also: online football manager · guides on the blog