I asked six scouts the same question: what makes you put a name in your notebook? The answers surprised me.
None of them mentioned pace first. None mentioned goals. The first word from every single one was the same: attitude.
A scout from a Lagos Premier League club put it plainly: "I can teach a boy to finish. I cannot teach him to want to learn."
The second thing they look for, almost universally, is coachability — how quickly a player absorbs instruction and applies it mid-session.
Stats matter, but only in context. A striker with 12 goals in a 6-team league and a striker with 12 goals in a 14-team league are not the same player.
The last insight was the most sobering: most grassroots talent in Nigeria is never seen at all. Not because the talent isn't there — but because no one with a notebook ever came to watch.
"I can teach a boy to finish. I cannot teach him to want to learn."
— Anonymous scout, Lagos Premier League club