Jimmy Thelin has turned to long-serving Nuno De Almeida to become Aberdeen ’s new head of recruitment.
The Portuguese talent spotter will step up from being the Dons’ international scout and consultant. Former Rio Ave sporting director de Almeida came in with Thelin when he arrived at Pittodrie in the summer. He takes over Chris Badlan, who has decided to step down as head of recruitment. De Almeida said: “I am pleased to be given this opportunity to lead the recruitment team at such an historic club. I have enjoyed working within the department over the last six months and I am looking forward to building on the recent positive work. My way of working and the approach Aberdeen has taken in recent seasons is completely aligned, and we will work together to identify and recruit exciting talents who can help us deliver our sporting goals on the pitch.”
De Almeida has already been strong in Aberdeen’s recruitment and will now take the full strain going into the January window. Aberdeen director of football Steven Gunn said: said: “Nuno has had a hugely positive impact in his time at Aberdeen thus far, bringing a breadth of experience across multiple player trading markets. He has a clear understanding of our needs as we work to build on our positive start to Jimmy’s leadership of the First Team.
“Nuno has been working with us closely since the summer to identify and progress our player recruitment priorities for the next two transfer windows and that work to strengthen the squad is ongoing.
“We are delighted to be able to strengthen the senior football staff at the club and to have a person of Nuno’s calibre and technical expertise at Aberdeen as we work towards helping Jimmy deliver a winning team on the pitch and build on the trading model which will support future investment into the first-team.”
Thelin has total in him. De Almeida first worked with Thelin at Elfsborg when he was an assistant first-team coach and chief scout. The talent spotter has been a first-team scout with Portuguese giants Porto for more than a decade before that. He has also specialised in striker identification, monitoring and evaluation for the Qatar Stars League for five months before he moved to the Scottish Premiership side.
Badlan has been at Aberdeen for just under a year but is now looking at other career opportunities. Gunn added: “I would also like to thank Chris Badlan for his effort whilst at Aberdeen and wish him every success in his future career.”