Last weekend, St. Louis Scott Gallagher had a very special visitor! One of the most famed global sports teams, Arsenal Football Club sent their North American Head Scout (Danny Karbassiyoon) to St. Louis to meet with SLSGs coaching staff and management. Danny shared many insights with the SLSG staff including his career story, what it takes to make it to that level, what Arsenal is looking for while scouting talent, and the Arsenal philosophy that has their style of play constant among the world's top clubs. Below are the notes from his speech.

Career Story:

In 2002 Danny was in Virginia playing for a small club called Roanoke Star. Due to his success he was put on a waiting list for ESP camp and called in last minute to join the camp. Danny earned the Golden Boot award at the camp and impressed an x/Arsenal player that was coaching at the camp. Within 3 weeks of the camp he was invited to Aresenal for a week long training session. Danny Karbassiyoon signed a full contract with Arsenal in 2003.

Having joined as a forward, he adapted his role to that of a left back. Karbassiyoon's first match for Arsenal was against Manchester City in the Carling Cup on October 27, 2004, as a substitute for Arturo Lupoli. He marked his debut by scoring a goal in the 90th minute in front of 77,000 fans; the match finished 2–1. He then went on to secure a starting spot in the Carling Cup's next round match against Everton at Highbury where a young Arsenal side prevailed 3-1. His final match with the first team saw him play the final ten minutes of a 1-0 defeat against Manchester United at Old Trafford. However, he could not gain any sort of place in the regular Arsenal first team and, in November 2004, he was loaned out to Football League Championship team Ipswich Town for three months, making six appearances for the East Anglian side.

Arsenal released Karbassiyoon in the summer of 2005, after he had played just three times for them, all in the Carling Cup. He signed for Burnley soon afterwards. However, a series of injuries left Karbassiyoon unable to establish himself at Turf Moor and he was placed on the transfer list at the end of his first season at the club. His contract was terminated by mutual consent in August 2006.

Karbassiyoon had a trial at Dutch team AZ Alkmaar, but wasn't offered a contract. Owing to knee injury problems, he retired from professional football in February 2007, at the age of 22.

As of April 4, 2007, he was employed by Arsenal as the Head Scout for North America.

What it takes to make it to that level:

Danny's daily training routine while growing up in Virginia:

1) 60 minutes of watching World Cup reruns after school to mentally prepare for his training (Fox Soccer Channel wasn't available in his area so this is why he would watch the World Cup reruns over and over)2) 60 minutes of ball work in the backyard from 4:30 to 5:30 (in the winter he would use fruit as a small ball and train in his garage)3) 2 hour training session with youth club Roanoke Star from 6 to 8

What Arsenal looks for while scouting talent:

1) technique

2) soccer intelligence

Other characteristics they look for are first touch, speed of play at the right times, simple play, accurate play

Arsenal Philosophy at the younger ages:

Player Development - it's all about developing players for the next level in their system. Emphasis is not on winning - "if you win ugly - you have failed".