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Jose Boto’s track record as a scout is up there with the very best, the long list of names he brought to Benfica in years gone by reading like a who’s who of famous footballers, from Angel Di Maria to Ederson to Axel Witsel to Jan Oblak and so on.
But our conversation in Philadelphia is centring on three players in particular because, now that Boto is the director of football for Brazilian side Flamengo, they are relevant to their next Club World Cup opponents Chelsea. They are David Luiz, Nemanja Matic and Ramires.
Benfica signed them for close to £10million collectively on Boto’s recommendation, and then sold all three to Chelsea for more than six times their original investment. That was how it used to go: spy a talent, sign him, mature him, sell him to the Premier League for a tidy profit.
Trouble is, Chelsea are now among those giants going straight to the source, scouting for themselves in South America and beyond, in a bid to eradicate that expensive middle man.
That is a killer for sides such as Benfica, where Boto was chief scout for 11 years. Stints as sporting director for Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine and PAOK in Greece have now taken him to Flamengo, whose manager is Filipe Luis, the former Chelsea left back.
While everyone else is searching for the next super-starlet, Flamengo are doing it differently. They are targeting experience and it was two weeks ago when Boto secured the signing of Jorginho after the 33-year-old midfielder exited Arsenal.
Flamengo’s director of football Jose Boto has an extremely strong track record as a scout
Two weeks ago he secured the signing of Jorginho after the 33-year-old midfielder left Arsenal
Jose Boto is now at Flamengo, who are managed by former Chelsea left-back Filipe Luis
‘One of the things we tried to do here was to bring 10 players with big experience in Europe who can pass to the young players the behaviour of European standards,’ Boto tells Mail Sport.
‘In terms of training, in taking care of themselves. In the beginning we brought in Danilo, he played for Manchester City, Juventus, Real Madrid. Jorginho was in that way of thinking – to bring in someone who has that European mentality.
‘I was in Benfica for many years and the target there and also at Shakhtar was to find the next wonderkid. It was a strategy to bring young players who can compete in the leagues we were in, but also have the potential to become top and then sell these players to teams like Chelsea.
‘We knew we could do that because the big clubs from the big leagues weren’t going to Brazil, to Argentina, to Serbia, to Ukraine. It was a strategy from Portuguese clubs for 10, 12, 15 years.
‘Now that is almost impossible because these big clubs go in search of these kids. Chelsea have picked some players from not evident markets. It is much more difficult now.
‘One of the secrets in Benfica was the fact that the president understood you can make mistakes in scouting. He trusted us. He told us many times to bring in players if we think they have potential. If one of the six you bring in becomes Di Maria or David Luiz, it pays for everything.’
Another experienced player who Flamengo have looked at signing this summer is Joao Felix from Chelsea. Boto knows the 25-year-old Portuguese, given he was a product of the Benfica academy, and he is now available after returning from his AC Milan loan.
‘It was an idea we had and then the idea died very fast because it was not the goal of Joao to come to play in Brazil,’ Boto explains. ‘This is a fantastic player who I think needs a nice place to develop again his potential – because he has this potential. He needs to find now the right place to be happy again. The potential he has is much more than he has shown in these last years.’
Filipe Luis won the Premier League with Chelsea in the 2014/15 season, his only one at the club
Another experienced player who Flamengo have looked at signing this summer is Joao Felix
Benfica signed David Luiz, Nemanja Matic and Ramires for £10m on Boto’s recommendation
Flamengo beat Tunisian side ES Tunis in their Club World Cup opener and now face Chelsea
Boto was behind Shakhtar hiring Robert De Zerbi as their manager in 2021, before he went on to become the boss of Brighton. De Zerbi was under consideration by Chelsea when they ultimately landed on Enzo Maresca last summer. Boto is not so sure that their Premier League opponents will be ‘scared’ of them, but he does warn that Maresca’s side would be making a big mistake if they go into this second group game expecting an easy outing in Philadelphia.
‘I’m lucky to have a coach who is not so different than De Zerbi,’ Boto adds on Luis. ‘He doesn’t have his experience, but he has many characteristics, not only in the way of playing but in the way he works. The two are workaholics. They want to know everything.
‘Filipe has been a coach for one year. I can assure you that he will be one of the top coaches in the next three-to-five years, also the best from Brazil. I think Filipe will change the face of Brazilian coaching to European clubs. Really, he is different. I can assure a brilliant future from him.’
