When the African Cup of Nations is on the programme, Piet de Visser is often in the stands. The 89-year-old master scout is not present at this edition in Ivory Coast because he is recovering from heart surgery. He watches every match from his living room in Oisterwijk and writes down the most striking players on his notepad. “Football is the best medicine to keep me alive. If that were to disappear, I would quickly collapse.”
Piet has escaped death several times. “When I was 50 years old, the AZ club doctor saw that I was turning blue. There was no blood flow and I had an angioplasty just in time. A few years later at Willem II I was taken to hospital with sirens blaring due to heart problems. I have also had cancer several times, including in my intestines. That tumor was in the same place as my mother’s. She was so sweet and so strong, but unfortunately she did not survive.”
“Sometimes I forget the medicine, but I never forget football.”
He recently had to undergo surgery due to cardiac arrhythmia. “I fell off regularly and fell heavily a few times. I have now had a pacemaker fitted. Every day I have to take medication for my heart, intestines and blood, among other things. Sometimes I forget, but I never forget that there is football on TV.”
And so he is forced to follow the Africa Cup of Nations from his own chair with the writing pad on his lap. “It looks like a messy whole, but I write down the strengths of players. However, the best scouting is to see a footballer live in action, but also during training. I also want to meet family members. If he comes from a stable family, it is reflected in his character. You can’t get that information from data, which is so sacred at clubs these days.”
His passion for player scouting started at an early age. “My wife said that I was a nice football player, quite a good trainer, but that I was always a real scout. I was already working on that in my youth. I grew up during the war and there were no clubs then. We played street football and I went from other streets to look for the best boys. My street always won.”
“At the top you sometimes have to decide on million-dollar purchases.”
Piet was a scout for PSV and Chelsea for years. He no longer has a job at the English top club after the departure of Russian owner Roman Abramovich. He hopes for a new opportunity at a top club. “Scouting is a difficult job. At the top you sometimes have to decide on million-dollar purchases, then you are under pressure. But I have been to amazing places, like often in Africa and Brazil.”
“I have discovered good football players all over the world, with whom I sometimes still keep in touch. With Brazilian international David Luiz, for example. I also saw guys like Kevin de Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois, Eden Hazard and Mateja Kezman. I already saw Ronaldo playing football at a youth tournament before PSV wanted him.”
When Piet has recovered sufficiently, he wants to go to his beloved Ghana. He has one there academy founded where eighty boys play football and go to school. “My salary always went to the foundation. In the Netherlands I live on my pension. It’s a shame that I’m out of work. Now we are trying to ensure that the academy becomes self-sustaining.”
