Como 1907 have quietly blown up the scouting rulebook. At 20, Felix Johnston has swapped his Chelsea content-creator badge for a first-team scouting role in Italy’s top flight — a jump that feels part fairy-tale and part proof that modern football now listens to new voices.
A lockdown hobby turned profession
Johnston’s pathway began in lockdown, when a friend nudged him onto X and he discovered a niche: Chelsea’s academy.
Night after night he watched youth games, carving out a reputation for spotting emerging talent. What started as late-night passion-project clips and hot takes gradually attracted attention from people inside the game, turning online recognition into real-world possibility.
From tweets to trials: the quick climb
The transformation accelerated fast. April brought a consultancy gig at Danish club Vejle.
By July, the director of recruitment at Como — impressed by Johnston’s posts — invited him for an internship designed to inject “modern, younger” scouting into the club. Nine weeks later, the internship became a full-time role. Johnston now balances scouting duties with university studies in Milan, a living example of how modern pathways can be both hybrid and hyper-accelerated.
What Johnston actually does at Como
His remit is refreshingly contemporary: he’s handed players flagged by data, watches them "on the eye" and produces reports.
The job isn’t pigeonholed by region or position — five full games often suffice for an initial assessment, though low-possession sides can demand more viewing to build clear evidence. The recruitment director’s data-first approach at Como means Johnston’s eye test complements analytics, not replaces it.
A young scout with an old-school nose for talent
Como’s experiment is paying off: the club sit seventh in only their second season back in Serie A.
Johnston’s role reflects a wider shift in football recruitment clubs are blending social-era scouting insight with rigorous data processes. His big shout for the future is 16-year-old centre-back Deinner Ordoñez of Independiente del Valle, a club known for producing gems like Moisés Caicedo.
From public praise to private reports
The biggest change for Johnston is audience. Where his opinions once chased likes and retweets, they now reach Cesc Fàbregas and Como’s recruitment meeting rooms.
The platform hasn’t disappeared — it’s been upgraded: social media was the announcement, but Serie A is the stage.
