Picture Exclusive To Young Guns
Fifteen of India’s brightest prospects, from various youth academies, will travel to London in July to take part in the Arsenal International Soccer Festival.
The players will also take part in Mini soccer camps and training which will be watched by Arsenal’s Head of Youth Development Liam Brady, as well as coaches Steve Bould and Neil Banfield, in an eight-day event organised by Arsenal FC giving the club a prime look at some of India’s best talents, as well as building relations and getting the Arsenal brand recognised in the far east.
During the month of May (2008) Mr Rasheed JeeJeeBhoy of High Life Management corporation, will host camps all over the country in the cities of Chandigarh, Delhi, Mumbai, Bhubaneswar and Shillong in a bid to pick the initial 30 players who will then battle for a chance to come to England and win a contact with Arsenal or any other watching clubs from around Europe and the Premier League.
Other countries are expected to do the same and send squads over for the tournament, places such as Qatar, Japan, and Korea are being ear marked as possible places who may be involved.
With Thanks To DeepikaGlobal
Article By – J.Sanderson
im from india. thats really cool. im surprised though that the cities they picked are all located in the north and middle of the ocuntry. hopefully we’ll soon have a fully blooded indian at the pro level in europe…and at arsenal!
great site.
I am all for giving kids from foreign country’s a chance but why not try to find some Indian and Pakistani kids from London, instead of going abroad first
Good point Kent, but getting them from the country they are from, gets us more publicity in India.
IMO i don’t believe we will find a special talent. Cricket overshadows football totally in india and therefore they don’t take football too seriously. However, it will be nice to have a first indian at Arsenal!
If you dont look, you will never know, but i feel this tournament is just coperate rather than to do with football
There are almost a billion people in India. Surely one of them has enough potential to join Arsenal as a youth and be developed?
Quartz yes there is almost a billion people in India but the problem is that 99% of the men would want be the next Sachin Tendulkar or Mahendra Singh Dhoni rather than say the next Thierry Henry IMO
Well, im an indian and i really. dont think that an indian born and bought up here will ever play profrssional futbal in epl mainly coz we r not gr8 physically. And more over india needs to grow up as a sporting nation. Cricket shd be banned, and other sports be encouraged. Well wit the 2nd largest population, we cant produce an olympic gold medalisst, and more over conducting camps in delhi is bullshit coz the real futbal talents lie in kerala, bengal and north east.
this one is a good start for indian talent to get some exposure.i am myself being an indian and also young indian ,think that there is big future for futball in india.i have seen surprising amount of people turning to futball in past 3-4 years and the list grows further.When manu won the league last year there were celebrations like a cricket win, in some arts of mumbai.so whoever the guy behind this concept of searching indian talent is clever and is looking for future.
don’t forget that indian under 16 team finished top on leveled points with iran ,went unbeaten ,defeated teams like Saudi arebia ,in recently concluded asian under 16 qualifiers. there they drew one and won all other games in thier group.
off topic, India is in South Asia, one of the most populated countries in the world.
Talent will arise from the streets wherever a ball can be kicked or a cricket ball can be thrown, some of the worlds best talent has come from the streets with no coaches or practical system in place, give them the ball and the skills will follow. AFC just need to keep an eye out and ear an to the ground with some practical encouragement thrown in.
i am no less than any fan of arsenal. i have a dream with high hopes to play with arsenal my family members and friens laugh at me when they hear this. they say” nice dream lad” i live in delhi and just play for school team i’m 16 and my hopes are are still standing and this website thank god i checked it out has given me a reason to keep dreaming this dream i am not low on confidence after eduardo’s injury.i just want to be standing inside the emirates with my football boots on
i come from the multi racial singapore. and i’ve witnessed the raw talent and natural flair the indians possess. perhaps because of their dancy culture, the dribbling is often unpredictable. so if cricket’s what you’re worried about, cmon down to singapore!
will be great to have an indian player at arsenal…will make it more interesting..i hope if ever he comes in the team it would be for football reasons..not commercial..arsenal game rocks..football is picking up in india..having 1 billion is a problem not a boon ..as there is no space for football grounds etc.. etc..etc..
heey thats a very googd idea in india there are very good talents like me .But i dont live in india but i live in austria . arsenal is my favourate team . i thik thats a very very very goodd idea to search for talents in india!!!!!!!!!!!!!!