How Sporting KC’s shrewd scouting system brought Mexican star Pulido to Kansas City

Less than two weeks elapsed between the time of the first rumblings that international soccer standout Alan Pulido might leave Guadalajara the announcement that Sporting Kansas City had found its newest star.

ESPN’s initial report that Pulido could soon leave Mexico to compete in Major League Soccer aired Nov. 29. Sporting KC’s announcement of his signing followed Dec. 10, a record transfer fee paid to lure the talented 28-year-old to America’s heartland.

Behind the scenes, meanwhile, contact between Pulido and KC’s pro soccer club had ignited much earlier.

“They were just explaining that Sporting was in the market for a number nine, and that I had certain qualities that they were looking for, and they were the qualities that I match up to,” Pulido said at Children’s Mercy Park, where he was introduced to media Tuesday. “I couldn’t really focus on that during the season because I was obviously still in competition.”

Early identification of Pulido as a potential asset — and his subsequent signing here — shine a light on the intricate scouting system Sporting KC now employs. Kansas City’s player personnel department includes a subset of “Talent Identification Directors,” or TIDs, who help the Midwest-based club spread its tentacles across world of soccer and scout players farther afield than the continental U.S.

The initial point of contact between Kansas City and Pulido came through former Sporting KC player and TID Santiago Hirsig, who played under Sporting manager and director Vermes in 2009, the latter’s first year in KC. A native of Argentina, Hirsig had previously done business with Guadalajara, and the positive relationship he maintained there enabled him to keep a close eye on Pulido.

“This deal never would have gotten done if it wasn’t for Santiago’s connection to this,” Vermes said Tuesday.

But Hirsig is just the tip of the iceberg — a grand, precise system that Vermes and Sporting began utilizing about 18 months ago.

“Our objective was to get people who were more than just scouts — get people that have worked in clubs, done deals, had a strong familiarity with Major League Soccer and had a connection with (Sporting),” Vermes said.

Hirsig operates primarily out of South America, scouting several countries in one of world’s hotbeds of soccer talent. But Kansas City also has a pair of TIDs in Europe, as well as Africa and Central America.

Operating as “more than scouts,” TIDs employed by Sporting typically have a good idea about how the club works and what kind of players could fit into Vermes’ system and succeed in MLS. They also typically have some sort of connection to Kansas City and/or Vermes: some are former players, like Hirsig, while others might be former teammates, such as István Urbányi, who played alongside Vermes in Hungary in 1988.

“We’ve invested a lot of time into those people by bringing them here even though they’ve lived in other regions of the world,” Vermes said. “We’ve brought them here to understand what we’re looking for, not only individually but positionally and with the personality of players and how they fit into our culture.”

Perhaps most importantly, not only does this scouting system allow Sporting KC to explore a vast array of international prospects, it also gives the club first right of refusal on any player it scouts.

Once Sporting has scouted a player sufficiently, it can submit discovery rights to the league, meaning Sporting gets first priority on trying to sign that player to an MLS deal — the right of first refusal. If a bid is rejected, the club is then able to match offers submitted by other teams.

“Moving forward, that will help us produce results, just as we did in our execution with Alan,” Vermes said. “Santiago will be very instrumental going forward, and we wouldn’t have gotten this deal done if he wasn’t involved.”

This story was originally published January 14, 2020 at 8:05 PM with the headline "How Sporting KC’s shrewd scouting system brought Mexican star Pulido to Kansas City."