Arsenal’s new scouting supremo is former wrestler who represented Germany
Don’t wait around for updates – sign up for our daily football email newsletter today!
Arsenal have added a new name to their collection of scouts – and their latest addition has quite the CV.
Florian Bluchel has joined the Gunners as their international first team scout and will be tasked with keeping an eye on developments in his native Germany.
Bluchel previously worked for Bayern Munich, working his way through the ranks over a decade with the Bavarian giants.
He will now work for Arsenal, using traditional scouting methods, video analysis and next-gen player profiling to identify the top talents in Germany.
The hiring of Bluchel comes as part of a recruitment drive behind the scenes at the Emirates Stadium after head of international recruitment Francis Cagigao and senior scouts in Germany, Spain, Italy and France all left the club.
Arsenal’s strategy is now being led by sporting director Edu, who recently hired former Manchester United and Inter Milan scout Toni Lima as their man in Spain.
Meanwhile, Romain Poirot, who previously worked for Nottingham Forest and Manchester City now covers the French market.
But neither of those two scouts have the background of Bluchel, who used to be a professional wrestler before getting into football analytics.
Bluchel’s LinkedIn profile is more interesting than most people’s, with a section of his page detailing his former life.
Don't miss a thing with our football updates!
Want to be on the ball with all of the latest football news?
Well then sign up for the brilliant Daily Star football email newsletter!
From the latest transfer news to the agenda-setting stories, get it all in your email inbox – don't miss a thing.
How do you sign up?
It only takes a matter of seconds.
Simply type your email address into the box at the top of this article and hit 'subscribe'.
And that's it, job done. You'll receive an email with all of the top news stories every single morning.
You can find out more information on our email newsletter on this link here.
It reveals that he was previously a member of wrestling teams AC Bayreuth, SC 04 Nürnberg, ASV Hof, KSV Ketsch, AC Lichtenfels, SV Wacker Burghausen and Johannis Nürnberg.
Bluchel fought between the weights of 74kg and 86kg over 12 years in the sport, which went from youth level right through to seniors.
He was very successful, too, competing in the junior European Championship and winning the French Open in 2003, while he was also named German youth champion on four occasions.
Bluchel competed in the German Bundesliga of wrestling for several years and won the 2nd Bundesliga in 2007 with AC Lichtenfels.
He moved out of professional wrestling in December 2011 and used his experience of sports science to work for Bayern Munich.
The 37-year-old started out doing work experience on match analysis and scouting, before working his way through the analyst and scouting ranks to eventually reach international scout.
He worked in that role for four years and was involved in all decision-making processes for Bayern’s first-team and academy recruitment.
Arsenal will now benefit from his skillset, but it is unlikely they will be in need of his wrestling ability.
- Arsenal FC
- Bundesliga
- Premier League
- Bayern Munich FC
Source: Read Full Article