It's not the first country that comes to mind when we talk about summer vacations, but Austria has solid arguments to make: Vienna, Tyrol, Klagenfurt and its gigantic lake, incredible food in the south... And it's not the recruiters of Ligue 1 clubs who will tell you the opposite. For several months, the country of Mozart has become one of the hype destinations for scouts, looking for great deals in the transfer window.
This summer, four players from the Austrian Bundesliga joined France, including Mads Bidstrup (RB Salzburg) and Mohamed Ouédraogo (SCR Altach) who face Auxerre with Olympique Lyonnais this Saturday. But Austria is not the only “second zone” championship to interest the sports management of French clubs. Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland are also popular destinations in July-August.
“These were championships which had already been observed before, notably Scandinavia, but it is true that the number of players from these countries is increasing,” assures Laurent Calippe, scout who has worked in particular with Sunderland, the Girondins de Bordeaux and Atlético de Madrid. These are players who will integrate easily, often without too many surrounding problems and who cost less. »
Eight French recruiters for a Lausanne match
Because the crux of the matter is there: due to the TV rights crisis (around 170 million euros expected for the 2026-2027 season), the majority of French clubs find themselves having to tinker to shape the squad without dropping tickets everywhere, as Baptiste Drouet, former head of recruitment at Lorient and Nantes, explains:
“For the Scandinavian countries, there are players who arrive with good transfers all the same, but the smaller clubs do not ask for very significant compensation. On the other hand, they have lower salaries. Salaries lower than what L1 clubs can charge. Even with low salaries, they earn more than in their original championship and they have great exposure in a championship which is valued. »
So, even if data has helped with identification in the recruitment process, French clubs do not hesitate to send people to all these countries to try to find that rare gem: “We have a growing interest from French clubs,” explains Stéphane Henchoz, sports director of Lausanne Sport. In matches against good teams, we can have up to seven or eight recruiters from French clubs. And, typically, it's between three and four. We always have a lot of requests. »
The phenomenon is also observed in the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, where even “small” teams are in the eye of recruiters. “In France, clubs have become aware of the potential of the Danish market, where they can recruit high-level talent for relatively modest amounts if they are not limited to players from the three main clubs,” assures Nicolai Damgaard Sand, Danish journalist for the Bold site.
Resale potential, number 1 criterion?
Equipped with its large data system, Toulouse thus sought out the modest clubs of Viborg (Thomas Jorgensen for 7.5 million euros) and Horsens (Christ Tapé for 2.5 million euros) this summer for an amount that followers estimate to be below the market. “The amount would have been at least twice as high if Jorgensen had played for Copenhagen, Midtjylland or Nordsjælland,” adds the journalist.
Before letting go of the rare biftons, L1 clubs are no longer taking the slightest risk to avoid casting errors. “They are more cautious about the investment to make, it takes more time for them to decide on a player perhaps,” estimates Henchoz. Before, having more resources, it was perhaps less serious if we made a little mistake. In this transfer window, we feel it. There is a lot of interest on players, but fewer firm offers. »
Because recruiting a young player who can improve the squad is not the only priority. It is also necessary, ideally, that the player has a significant margin of progress to be able to be resold at a high price after a few months/years. “French clubs are only interested in our players who have resale potential,” explains Stéphane Henchoz, who has seen several of his players join France, and in particular Auxerre.
A win-win situation for the selling club and the buying club. “We are a championship and we are a club, where we have to regularly sell players to keep the club running,” adds the former Liverpool defender. A very important source of income is the sale of players. For us, the fact that French clubs are interested in our players, and that several deals are successful, is important. »
Even the U16s are recruited abroad
This strategy has even changed the strategy of certain clubs in Denmark. “The level has not necessarily improved here, but I see it as a reflection of the modern evolution of football,” adds Nicolai Damgaard Sand. Smaller clubs have adopted a new approach too, which explains why they are focusing more on training young talents. The sales made by Viborg and Horsens are among the biggest transfers in their history, so it is a success. »
This desire of French clubs to seek out young players with high potential abroad at lower costs goes so far as to push them to make their “market” in the youth categories, even if this remains “under-exploited”, according to Baptiste Drouet. Lausanne Sport thus saw one of its U16s, Nolaan Stifani, join Strasbourg this summer, almost for free, to the great dismay of Stéphane Henchoz: “There are training allowances regulated by Fifa, around 60-80,000 euros, but this is not the sum for which we would have liked to sell a player who could have developed with us. »
And since the French clubs are always on the lookout for a good deal, we made it harder for them by asking our speakers (Laurent Calippe and Baptiste Drouet preferred not to reveal their mushroom corner) what could be the next nuggets to land in the Land of Enlightenment: Stéphane Henchoz immediately spoke about his striker Omar Janneh while Nicolai Damgaard Sand mentioned the names of Frederik Emmery and James Bogere (AGF), Justin Janssen (Nordsjælland) and Jacob Ambæk (Brondby). We will remember it when they arrive in France and break everything.
