scouting networks are pretty complex, at least in most sports they are. for arsenal, im pretty sure that it works like this:
local scout (assigned to cover one country, or one area) goes and sees a player multiple times. he writes up a report each time. those reports get sent to the person responsible for managing him, like a european scout manager. that person reads all the reports and then writes up a summary that goes to the head of scouting. that regional person probably goes and sees the player a few times as well, and im sure our head of scouting sees the player in person as well. then, the head of scouting prepares the final report on the player and gives it to wenger/gazidis. im sure the authority with which they write their report, and their track record, colors the opinion of wenger.
if our scouts had generated tons of rave reviews about kante while he was in france, and everyone in the scouting network had urged wenger to sign him, but wenger did not go through with it, then that is on wenger and no one else. given what we've read about the arsenal setup, wenger still has the final say on everything. the scouts could have written that player X is the next pele, but if wenger doesn't want the player, there is nothing to be done about it. this also ties in to the bigger conversation about who at the club should be making the final determination on whether or not to buy player X. is it the manager's job to also determine which players are bought and sold? you can argue yes, it is, because the manager knows what system he wants to play and what types of players fit into that system. on the other hand, at most clubs, managers dont stay for 25 years, and the system will change 15 times in 25 years, so it is best to sign the best talent and worry about how everything fits later. it seems we've passed up a ton of world class talent in the last 10 years, and in most cases, it wasnt because of money. it was because, for some reason, we were not on top of the situation. either our scouts did not do their work appropriately, wenger did not make the right decision, or the board rejected the signing due to financial reasons. i suspect it is more option 2 instead of 1 or 3.
