Online Reporter
Tadious Manyepo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
SPAIN Ambassador to Zimbabwe Lourdes Sangronix said the establishment of Spanish La Liga side Villarreal’s Academy in Zimbabwe will help pave the way for talented young footballers to carve a career internationally.
Villareal’s international arm has been expanding across Africa, where they have helped unearth super talent in Nikolas Jackson, Pape Gueye, Samuel Chukwueze and Nikolas Pepe among others.
They have now installed yet another satellite in Zimbabwe after partnering with Athletes Sphere Global.
The Spanish giants have dispatched two of their academy’s best coaches, Carlos Ortiz and Vicky Yarnold to help take the young players and their local coaches through their paces as the club wants their philosophy to rub off on the new baby on the block.
Sangronix yesterday attended the training session at Mkushi Sports Club where she hailed the whole arrangement.
“As Ambassador of Spain to Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi, I am very happy to have come to the academy of Villarreal here in Harare and to see the launching of these training sessions this week in order to spot talent and to make closer bonds between our two countries,” she said.
“We attach great importance to this sport of football which is not only entertainment but also a way to have healthy habits, and I also believe it is a great means towards better understanding and knowledge of the two countries.
“Thank you very much for having us here, and best of luck to this academy and to the work it does with Villarreal, our Spanish team.”
Ortiz expressed optimism the project will help youngsters from Zimbabwe walk the same path walked by the likes of Senegal striker Jackson.
“Now we have some players on the first team like Nicolas Pepe or Pape Gueye that scored the goal at the African Cup.
“We have other players that we signed when they were younger, like Samuel Chukwueze. Or for example, Nikolas Jackson came there when he was younger.
“He developed in the Under-19s, B team and first team, and after that he moved to the English Premier League, now he’s at Bayern Munich,” said Ortiz.
“We have another group of young players now, with 18-19 years old, that are playing on the B team that are playing in the Under-19s.
“I say, Chukwueze and Jackson are good examples of players that arrived at Villareal when they were younger, developed, now they were playing in Serie A, Premier League, Bundesliga, so I think they are good examples of it. And I have seen that there is untapped talent here in Zimbabwe.” After the methodology training, Ortiz and Yarnold are expected to pick one talented player from the local lot at the Villareal Academy, who they will take to Spain for further assessment.
Yarnold said: “The reason we are here is to bring the Villarreal methodology and what we do in Villarreal and Spain over to Zimbabwe. This is the first time we’re here, the first project we’re doing here in Harare and Zimbabwe and it’s really, nice to come; Carlos and I as coaches and to deliver this camp this week with the team and the players that we have and the coaches and to see how we work.
He also acknowledged the different paths followed by children in Zimbabwe and those in Spain.
“Of course the environment here is very different, the level of course and the quality as we see is very different but what we want to see is how the players adapt to the new style and so in Spain we focus very much on individual performance in terms of their development, their autonomy, their decision-making on the field and from the tasks that we do and the drills that we do in the sessions, it’s for the players to make their own decisions and see how they adapt and how they understand the situations that they’re placed in.
The pair’s visit follows a reverse trip to Villareal by Zimbabwean coaches Tonderai Ndiraya and Zet Sibanda earlier in the year.
Ndiraya, who coaches at Premiership side Chicken Inn, and Sibanda on an attachment in Spain in January.
Athletes Sphere Global director Gerald Sibanda said the blessings from the Spanish Ambassador will spur them to work hard to achieve the desired results.
