Francisco "Francis" Cagigao Souto (born 10 November 1969) is a London born Spanish football Sporting Director/Head of Recruitmentscout, Coach and former player and currently serves as the Global Director, in charge of recruitment and strategy, of Galatasaray in Turkey. He played for Arsenal, where he won the FA Youth Cup in 1988 under Pat Rice, Barcelona B, Racing de Santander, Southend United, Racing de Ferrol and Yeclano Deportivo in the second tier. A Spanish u19/20 International, his career was cut short at the age of 29 due to injury. He coached Club Lemos to the Segunda División B play-offs in Spain.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Francisco Cagigao Souto | ||
| Date of birth | 10 November 1969[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Paddington, London, England | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1984–1988 | Arsenal | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1988–1989 | Barcelona B | 9 | |
| 1989–1991 | Racing Santander | 2 | |
| 1991–1993 | Southend United | 1 | (0) |
| 1993–1994 | Racing de Ferrol | 27 | |
| 1994–1995 | Yeclano Deportivo | 33 | |
| 1995–1999[2][3] | Club Lemos | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Career
editHe is respected worldwide as Arsenal's longest serving senior scout with over 23 years at the club and has been Head of International Scouting for several years with expertise and a network mainly in Europe and South America.
The trilingual Cagigao worked under Arsène Wenger for 21 years, followed by Unai Emery and Mikel Arteta. He has close ties with the Spanish FA where he has served as an instructor on the Director of Football course.[4]
He was responsible for direct participation in the signings of players such as Lauren, Cesc Fabregas, Jose Antonio Reyes, Santi Cazorla, Nacho Monreal, Mikel Arteta, Emiliano Martinez, Granit Xhaka, Alexis, Carlos Vela, Hector Bellerin, Robin van Persie, Gabriel Martinelli, William Saliba and Kieran Tierney.
In 2020, he became the Technical Director of the Football Federation of Chile where he worked for two years.[citation needed]
In 2023, he became the Global Director of Galatasaray in Turkey.
Honours
editClub
edit- Arsenal[5]
References
edit- ^ "Francis Cagigao". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
- ^ "ESTATÍSTICAS". Ogol.com.br.
- ^ "Bio". BD Futbol.com.
- ^ "Curso superior de formación de directores deportivos – Ponentes" (PDF). RFEF.es (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 February 2022. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
- ^ "Interview with our Arsenal's Spanish scout". Hupu.com.