John Barnes scouts the Caribbean for talent.
By: Shaun Fuentes (TTFF). Trinidad and Tobago among seven Caribbean countries will benefit from football coaching clinics under the guidance of former England and Liverpool star John Barnes in January 2008.
Barnes was in Trinidad over the past two days and will return next month to begin the clinic which is being hosted by Digicel and will present opportunities for some of the region’s best Under 20 players to earn a chance to train with English Premiership club Sunderland.
The event is being hosted in conjunction with the Caribbean Football Union, under the presidency of Jack Warner and the communications giant will say further about it at a launch later on.
Barnes, whose father is Trinidadian, appeared excited describing the Caribbean as an untapped market for football talent.
“I’m going to be here for the program to look at the talent and try and give opportunities for young players in the Caribbean. We will be in seven of the islands running five-day clinics with under 20 teams and choosing the best players to go to Sunderland for a week to train at the professional club,” Barnes explained to TTFF Media as he viewed a T&T National Under 20 team screening session at UWI Grounds, St Augustine on Tuesday in the company of national coaches Wim Rijsbergen, Anton Corneal, Jan Van Deinsen and English agent Mike Berry as well as a couple US College scouts. Referring to the Caribbean as an untapped market, Barnes added: “You see what happened in Africa 20 to 30 years ago when a lot of the people were slow to recognize the talent… England particularly were slow. This (the Caribbean) is an untapped market. You see Jamaica qualifying for the World Cup in 1998 and then the Soca Warriors qualifying for the last World Cup… Kenwyne Jones now and from Dwight Yorke days you see a lot of talent coming out but it needs to be harnessed and given an opportunity. In England now they recognize the fact that although Africa is saturated, this is the next place where you are going to get the next talent coming out to hopefully grace the Premier League,” Barnes said.
The England international, capped 79 times for that country, recognized FIFA Vice President Jack Warner for his efforts in taking regional football up a notch.
“If you look at what’s happening in the Caribbean even before Jamaica qualified and the success of this region over the last fifteen years financial and otherwise, not just on the playing field… it’s down’s to Jack Warner. Jack really has put the Caribbean on the map. Even people in Europe which is the stronghold of world football if you like, have recognized the role that Jack has played in brining on football in this region. The great America has benefited from Jack. Football has changed. It’s a business now and once upon a time people were being exploited, particularly in Africa, and of course someone as powerful as Jack Warner will ensure that the players and the associations of this region who may have been exploited once upon a time will now not be exploited and they will benefit from having Jack on board,” Barnes added.
Click here for full John Barnes interview.
