Paris Saint-Germain sporting director Luis Campos spoke at length with TF1info about his vision of football, his working methods, and his approach to scouting. Through anecdotes and very concrete principles, the Portuguese executive sheds light on the foundations of the Parisian project, far removed from hype and short-term decisions.
Campos: “The scouting I experienced was different from today’s.”
You have proven yourself to be an exceptional talent scout. At Monaco, with Bernardo Silva and Fabinho; at LOSC Lille with Victor Osimhen and Rafael Leão; and since 2022 at PSG with Vitinha and João Neves, among others. In an era of globalized, hyper-connected, and ultra-competitive football, how do you manage to be the first to spot promising opportunities?
A few years ago, I went to see Pedri play. It was the second time I’d seen him; I’d already been following him when he was playing for Las Palmas. It was a match for the Spanish under-17 national team. There were six of us scouts on the sidelines watching him. After the matches, we often went out to dinner together, chatting and sharing our ideas and impressions. Today, that’s impossible. If you go to an Under-17 World Cup, there aren’t five scouts anymore, but a thousand! They fill an entire stand all by themselves. It shows the importance that scouting has taken on in the world of football.
The scouting I knew was different from today’s. We didn’t have video or all the extraordinary tools that exist now. We had to rely on our instinct, our experience. We had to decipher and understand the player’s personality. For example, the warm-up gives important indications about his character, his concentration, and his effort. Watching him play in a match also allows you to gather a lot of information: his body language, how he moves on the pitch, how he interacts with others, etc.
The most difficult thing when scouting is being able to project what you see on the pitch. You have to ask yourself if a player you observe in a specific situation will adapt to our context. This requires not only experience but also sensitivity.
Campos: “Anticipation is one of my greatest strengths”
Is always being one step ahead the Luis Campos method?
We’re continuing with the puzzle that’s so dear to me. Every player has a price. When building a team, you mustn’t exceed a total cost. Otherwise, you’re heading for serious problems, as was the case in Monaco where we had to change the entire project just one year after it was launched. With the experience I’ve gained, I’ve created my own work philosophy, one I strongly believe in. I’ve developed a great scouting system. It’s based on a simple principle: I always have lists of nine players per position at three different price points.
For example, you have a budget of €40 million to recruit four players. If you spend €20 million on the position where you need it most, you’re left with only €20 million for the rest of your transfer window. This means that, to complete the puzzle, you have to choose from a less expensive list. But you have to have one available. You know, I don’t like surprises; I anticipate a lot. Anticipation is one of my greatest strengths. It’s part of the spirit of scouting. I like being able to meet the expectations of the coach I’m working with. I’m here to listen to him, understand the project he wants to implement, and help him find the right players.
When you’re leading a project, it’s crucial to strike the right balance between the economic, sporting, and operational aspects. These days, we have machines in our kitchens that do everything. You can have the money to buy good vegetables, you can have good vegetables, but you still need to know the recipe to make a good soup.
The interview with Luis Campos first paints a portrait of a man shaped by football long before he became an executive. His relationship with the game is intimate, almost visceral, fueled by the failures of the player he never was and by a passion he has never denied. From this stems a profoundly human vision of scouting.
Campos evokes a bygone era of football, based on observation, instinct, and reading player behavior, whereas today technology has multiplied the tools but also diminished the scarcity of talent. Without rejecting big data or video, he advocates a fusion of approaches: seeing, feeling, then confirming. This philosophy then informs his daily practice.
Anticipating, never being caught off guard, thinking of each recruitment as a piece of a larger puzzle, with clear economic constraints. The lists, broken down by position and segmented by price range, reflect a cold but essential logic: building without creating imbalances. At PSG, this rigor is a precious luxury. It allows them to support the coach’s project, secure the future, and give a clear direction to a club long driven by urgency rather than long-term planning.
At a time when many clubs are at the mercy of the transfer window, Campos reminds us that stability and anticipation are major competitive advantages. In a fast-paced football world, PSG has made the rare choice to master time.
