TA talks about the famous scout Worthington: He once recommended Benzema to Chelsea and Rodri to Everton

October 8 News Dave Worthington is now 80 years old. He has served as a scout for many clubs, including Bolton, Chelsea, Hull City, Blackburn, Sunderland, West Ham United, Leicester City and Everton. Theathletic talks about the scouting legend.

Worthington, now 80, does have boxes of reports, and looking through them at his Yorkshire home he discovered some familiar names. For example, he first saw the 16-year-old Benzema at Lyon and suggested Bolton sign him for €1 million. He later told Chelsea: "If we don't act quickly, this kid will go to Real Madrid, Barcelona or Milan." In addition, there were young goalkeeper Neuer who was playing for Schalke at the time, and former Tottenham midfielder Moussa Dembele, who was playing for AZ Alkmaar.

In another document, he strongly recommended that West Ham United sign Mallorca's Marco Asensio, but in the end Real Madrid took the lead. In 2017, he recommended Pedro Polo, Bruno Fernandez and Rodri to Everton, who now play for Tottenham, Manchester United and Manchester City respectively.

Rhodri has received high praise from Worthington many times. For example, in a La Liga match against Deportivo La Coruña in January 2018, Worthington commented on the 21-year-old Rodri: "Easily wins headers, always actively responds to win tackles, has good positioning, strong awareness, strong, solid ball control, Will not blindly pass the ball after being intercepted, is willing to help teammates, rarely wastes passes, has excellent ball transfer ability, and has excellent movement."

In the right margin of the report, the letters "AP" indicate that he strongly recommends Everton to sign Rodri. Rodri went on to become one of the world's top players, winning the 2024 Ballon d'Or.

Talking about Rodri, Worthington said: "Rodri is really an outstanding player. He can play any position, not just midfielder, but also defender and even forward. In my opinion, he has it all."

Despite this, Worthington also admitted that some players did not meet his expectations. For example, he strongly recommended Saint-Etienne's Bayar Sarr, but the latter did not become a top defender; Lucas Evangelista, who performed well in Portugal but has now returned to Brazil; and Sandro Ramirez, who performed well in Malaga but failed to adapt in the Premier League.

Worthington believes that the best scouting system should combine data and technological advancement, but cannot ignore the subjective analysis of experienced scouts. He believes that data must be used in context and combined with experienced observers to be most effective.