Tomas Benedet returns to Olympiacos to run scouting; Christos Akkas is being moved to Marinakis Group role

Transfer windows make scouting departments visible for the wrong reasons. When recruitment works, players receive most of the credit. When it doesn't, somebody eventually asks who recommended them. Olympiacos appear to have reached that second stage. The club has spent considerable money across recent windows, but internally there has clearly been dissatisfaction with the sporting return. That frustration became unusually public when Olympiacos signaled that major changes had already begun in scouting and recruitment because recent investments had not produced sufficient results on the pitch.

Now we appear to have the first major personnel consequence. Thomas Benedet is coming back. And Christos Akkas will no longer lead Olympiacos' scouting operation.

The distinction around Akkas is important

The earliest Sunday reports made the situation sound more dramatic. Sportime described Akkas as being finished with Olympiacos' scouting department at 10:49, and SDNA followed at 11:13, similarly reporting his departure from the department.

Sport-FM subsequently provided a more detailed version. According to Giorgos Tsanakas, Akkas is expected to change roles rather than leave the wider organization. He will move into scouting across Evangelos Marinakis' football group, collaborating with Olympiacos, Nottingham Forest and Rio Ave.

This therefore looks less like a dismissal from the ownership network and more like a reorganization of responsibility. Benedet becomes responsible for Olympiacos specifically. Akkas moves upward or outward into the multi-club structure. This would make more sense given that scouting has not been the issue this summer. Scouted finds like Smajlovic, Tiknizyan, Pirola, Hezze, El Kaabi, Popovic, and Gustavo Sa have been wonderful, even the plethora of names indicates that scouting has done great work. The issue has been in negotiations and closing deals.

Why Benedet?

This isn't the appointment of an outsider learning the organization from scratch. Benedet previously spent years at Olympiacos as a close collaborator of José Anigo. His earlier spell became closely associated with one of the strongest development periods in the club's recent history. When Anigo and Benedet left in November 2025, APE-MPE reporting noted that their period around the academy had coincided with:

the 2024 UEFA Youth League victory,

three consecutive U19 championships,

and the emergence of players including Charalampos Kostoulas, Christos Mouzakitis, Antonis Papakanellos and others through the development system.

That doesn't automatically mean Benedet will identify successful first-team transfers. Academy scouting and senior recruitment are very different disciplines. But it tells us what Olympiacos appear to value in bringing him back: knowledge of the organization, familiarity with its football philosophy and a documented period of successful talent identification/development.

And this change probably isn't happening in isolation

Olympiacos' recruitment structure has increasingly become intertwined with the wider Marinakis network.

That is particularly interesting now because the club is being linked with transactions involving Forest pathways — André Luiz being the obvious current example.

If Akkas moves into a group-level scouting position, the structure begins to look increasingly deliberate. One operation can identify talent across several markets. Then the ownership group can decide:

Which player is ready for the Premier League?

Which player makes sense for Olympiacos?

Who requires a developmental bridge?

Who fits Rio Ave?

Which asset should remain within the group?

That is essentially a multi-club recruitment architecture. And if executed properly, it can provide Olympiacos access to players the club might otherwise struggle to acquire independently.

But there is also an accountability message here

The timing is impossible to ignore. Olympiacos have already made significant financial commitments this summer. Armando González. Marcus Pedersen. Other acquisitions.

And they are still aggressively pursuing more expensive targets. The club has also publicly acknowledged that previous investment has not always translated into adequate performance. So changing the person responsible for leading scouting is not merely cosmetic. It suggests ownership is reassessing how transfer decisions are generated before negotiations even begin.

That's arguably more important than changing one sporting director. Because transfer mistakes usually originate earlier.

Which leagues are being monitored? How are players filtered? How much weight is given to data? How much to live scouting? Who determines stylistic fit? Who compares the preferred target against alternatives?

And crucially: who can say no to an expensive signing?

Those systems determine recruitment quality.

Benedet inherits a very different job from the one he previously held

Olympiacos' expectations have changed. They are not merely trying to dominate Greece. Evangelos Marinakis has publicly spoken about going deep — even all the way — in the Europa League. That means recruitment has to solve two different problems simultaneously.

Olympiacos need players technically capable of dismantling low defensive blocks domestically.

And they need players physically and tactically capable of competing against Milan, Marseille, Rennes and Hoffenheim in Europe. Those profiles don't always overlap. The scouting department needs to identify the players who can do both.

Which makes this change potentially more significant than today's transfer rumor

Supporters naturally focus on the next name. Pablo García. Frendrup. André Luiz. Another winger. Another midfielder.

But a functioning recruitment system matters more than any individual transfer. If Benedet improves the quality of player identification, the effect could persist for several seasons. If the underlying process remains flawed, changing names on the organizational chart won't matter.

That is why this development deserves attention. Olympiacos said the recruitment structure was going to change. Now it apparently is and Thomas Benedet — a figure already associated with one of the club's most productive modern development periods — has reportedly been entrusted with leading the next version of it.