Piet de Visser

Piet de Visser (born 23 September 1934) is a Dutch football manager and scout. He is best known for scouting players such as Romário, Ronaldo and Ruud van Nistelrooij for PSV and bringing them to European football. He later worked as a scout and personal adviser to Roman Abramovich, the former owner of English Premier League club Chelsea. De Visser also runs a youth football academy in Accra, Ghana.

In 1964, he took his first job as a head manager at DFC and became champion of the second division in his first year. In 1973, while manager of De Graafschap, he and his club, which included defender Guus Hiddink, were promoted to the Eredivisie.

He ended his management career in 1993, while at NAC Breda, due to heart problems. During his career, De Visser managed Sparta, DFC, Telstar, De Graafschap, NEC, R.W.D. Molenbeek, FC Den Haag, Roda JC, AZ, Willem II and NAC Breda.

PSV After his management career, De Visser worked as a scout for PSV for some fifteen years. He also scouted Adriano, but PSV coach Erik Gerets was not interested in signing him. Guus Hiddink, who played under De Visser at De Graafschap and worked with him at PSV, was recommended to Abramovich for the position of manager of the Russia national team. It was also De Visser who first recommended the signings of Mikel John Obi and Salomon Kalou to Frank Arnesen for Chelsea. De Visser and Arnesen later clashed with Mourinho over transfer policy, reportedly recommending Alex be brought over from PSV to address the club's defensive problems, while Mourinho preferred Khalid Boulahrouz.

De Visser was also involved in the February 2009 dismissal of Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari and the subsequent appointment of Guus Hiddink. According to De Visser, he warned Abramovich about Scolari's training methods: "I had to watch training sessions he was giving to the squad. I died of shock. It was so weak, his training sessions lacked every kind of sharpness. It made the entire squad lack sharpness in matches. I did not need a lot of time to conclude things were really bad with Chelsea."

Criticism of player agents De Visser has openly criticised what he sees as the manipulation of young players by player agents. He has said, "I want the player to get a good contract, and also that the football association and the club where the boy comes from gets a decent compensation. I would like to climb to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro and shout across the continent, Boys watch out for shady agents!"