Nathaniel Mobolade
Jos, the Plateau State capital answered to its sobriquet as the ‘Mecca of football in Nigeria’, as confirmed by some foreign scouts saying “it isn’t a misplaced talk or tag but for that fact that Talents abound in the State.”
This sobriquet was reiterated again when some scouts from Europe came to the Tin City of Jos to identify talents for various clubs in mainstream Europe and Eastern Europe.
The Foreign scouts who were surprised in the exceptional Football talents confessed that truly Jos is a haven of footballers.
According to the lead scout Jouko Gorissen, ‘We are here in jos courtesy the Blac Football Agency and with what we’ve seen these few days, Jos has technically gifted footballers more than other cities like Lagos, Edo and Imo that we’ve visited’.Infact, we know Jos has produced captains of the National team in Mikel Obi, Ogenyi Onazi and Ahmed Musa to mention a few, that is to show that yes, the city is blessed with talented players’.
He stated that they are not like agents/ scouts that come to Africa on an all expense paid trip and later disappear without any news but they are hear not to promise but to ensure the picked players go through developmental processes before unleashing them to bigger leagues in Europe.
‘We hear too many scouts come to Africa..Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana, get everything paid for but after then, you don’t hear from them again. We are not making promises on players picked, we pick the ones that are ready, that’s a good step for the players as they are taken to developmental leagues like Norway, Sweden and other Eastern European leagues to develop for six months then go to mainstream Europe where they will fit in to their training and environment without culture shock which can affect them mentally and derail their form on the pitch of play’.
Gorissen maintained that only the best are picked so as to take them to the right clubs because their integrity is at stake thus they always make sure every document of the player is okay and correct without discrepancies.
On what they set to look out for in scouting programs, the Head scout said ‘every club has its unique quality they look out for, especially between ages 16-21, we go in line with what the club wants in the department they require, making sure the players information is correct to avoid ban for the player, agent and even both clubs’.
He said the discrepancies are what has made many agents leave out African players in their plans.
That their Agency have been into recruitment of players for the past seven years, starting off in the United States of America, Southern America and moved to Africa. He said the Agency has scouting links with clubs in Nigeria:NPFL, NNL,NLO and they have partnerships with multiple clubs in Europe, Senegal, Zambia,Morocco, with players currently in the U-20 AFCON squads for different African countries.
The 3-day scouting programme was organised by the Blac Agency in jos and players were picked for further grooming for the trips.
