Meet the Manchester City super scout who unearthed Jadon Sancho and the next generation of English talent

Sign up to the Independent's betting newsletter for the latest tips and offers

Sign up to the Independent's betting newsletter

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice

Manchester City did not want to lose Jadon Sancho but last week the 17-year-old did earn them the largest ever transfer fee paid for someone yet to play a single minute of senior football.

Borussia Dortmund paid £8million for Sancho, a serious profit for City given they signed him from Watford for an initial £66,000 two years before.

City put more resources into their youth recruitment than anyone else in the country and no-one is more important to their work than Joe Shields, the brilliant young scout who found Sancho and brought him to City in 2015.

Shields is City’s UK academy scouting manager, having previously covered the south of England for them. Even with Sancho gone he has brought a new generation of English youngsters to City, in their pursuit of having the best academy teams in the country.

Next up there is Taylor Richards, the 16-year-old attacking midfielder signed from Fulham. Then there is 17-year-old Ian Carlo Poveda, eligible for England and Colombia, who joined from Brentford having spent time with Barcelona and Arsenal. And Rabbi Matondo, another 16-year-old, a fast, skilful winger signed from Cardiff City last year.

All of them were found for City by Shields.

Most striking is Yeboah Amankwah, the 16-year-old centre-back City signed last December. They did not take him from another club, but from Croydon side Kinetic Foundation. That is where Shields found him, and when Manchester United found out they tried to sign him, but City got him first. He is now starring for their Under-18s.

It should be no surprise, though, that Shields, at the top of one of the best-funded scouting departments in the country still goes to watch local football in Croydon. Shields, still just 30 years old, is from Thornton Heath and is rooted in the football community of the area.

He started coaching from the age of 15 at Melwood FC, the Croydon team before doing part-time schoolboy scouting for Crystal Palace.

Shields’ reputation grew and in 2010 he was offered a full-time role at Fulham by academy coach Colin Omogbehin, who had previous been at Palace. He worked there for one year and it was only when Palace could free up some money that they could offer Shields a full-time role to leave Fulham for.

Even in that early work Shields’ work ethic was clear and his commitment to finding the best players wherever they may be. “Youth scouting is harder than senior scouting because you never know where the best players will be,” explains Gary Issott, Crystal Palace academy director.

“In senior football the best players are at the best clubs but in youth football they could be playing somewhere because their mates are there or their dad. Joe had the incredible work ethic to find them.”

South London is one of England’s biggest talent factories now but one of Shields’ most important skills has been the ability to spot players in any park or playground – and in urban, rather than leafy areas - who could make it at an academy too. “Joe has the ability to spot players in a disorganised environment who have the talent to succeed in an organised environment,” says another former colleague.

“He has that eye for the best players.”

In practice that means looking beyond who might be the quickest or strongest boy in any age group and understanding the technical skill and intelligence that make a footballer able to jump from one level to the next. It is a knack more than a learned skill but the evidence of his career so far is that Shields has it.

That is the skill that saw Manchester City sign Shields from Palace in 2013 as their London youth scout, a job he did for three years before moving up into his current one. Scouting is a very human job and everyone who has worked with Shields speaks about his people skills and the strength of the connections he makes. He is strikingly popular with all of his players and their families, because of his supportiveness, trust and encouragement.

Word gets around in youth football and Shields is so popular that players at under-15 or under-16 level will play better because they know Shields is watching. Even if they know they will never get a move to City.

That in part is why he is already in such a big role at Manchester City. There would be interest from every big club if he ever wanted to leave City but for now there is a new cohort of his signings on their way through. Sancho has gone but others will take his place.