New Delhi, Dec 4 (IANS) Indian football’s technical director Robert Bann feels that strikers Sunil Chettri and Jeje Lalpeklua, who are fresh from trials with Scottish giants Rangers, are not good enough for top European clubs.
‘Sunil and Jeje are top Indian players and ideally scouts should have come to India to watch them play. The fact that they travelled to Scotland shows that they are not good enough for top clubs in Europe,’ said Bann, a former technical director with Australia.
All India Football Federation (AIFF) secretary general Kushal Das also concurred with Bann.
‘Indian players lack fitness. I don’t think there is any player in the national team who is even fit for second division European club,’ Das told IANS.
Contrary to Bann’s views, Chettri said Indian players have the potential to play in Europen clubs.
‘It is tough but I believe that Indian players have the potential to play in European league. The basics are same and Indians have the skill. The only difference is in the training process,’ Chettri said.
The former Sporting Kansas City striker said that it is about the first Indian player to breakthrough and others would follow soon.
‘In Japan and South Korea it happened like that. After Kazu Miura and Hidetoshi Nakata now Japan has several players in the European league. It is all about one Indian player and then we can have several playing overseas,’ Chettri said.
Asked about his six-day trial with Rangers, Chettri said: ‘I am happy that I got a chance to go to the Rangers. We couldn’t train much with the main team as they had their matches. The coach was a bit busy and we couldn’t spend much time with him. But it was a great experience – there were quality footballers all around and it was a learning experience for me. I am a more confident player now.’
The 68-year-old Bann feels that Indians still have a long way to go before realising their dreams of playing in Europe.
‘Indian players have to be realistic in their approach. The youth development system is faulty. Half-educated coaches are making it worse. There is no talent spotting system and it is making things difficult in a huge country like India,’ he said.
Bann said India must have talent spotters, on the lines of now defunct Talent Research Development Officers in the Indian cricket board.
‘India is one of the top cricketing countries because they spot talent at the right age. I will propose a similar thing in my report to the AIFF. It is not possible for Colin Toal (youth development chief coach) to tap talents all over the country,’ he said.
