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Man Utd use Royal Antwerp to find Indian star

Submitted by tribalfootball.com on Wed, 07/29/2009 - 09:34

Manchester United's Belgian sister club Royal Antwerp are exploring the prospect of bringing India players to Europe.

Antwerp are sending scouts to Barcelona to monitor the Indian national team.

The scouts, along with the club chairman, are to arrive in Barcelona later this week and report their findings back to the Belgian club, says the Times of India.

FIFA-licensed agent Eddie Rock, who leads Libero Sports' Player Representation and Management division with seven Indian players on the rolls, had initially set up a one-week trial for one of the players with Royal Antwerp Football Club, but coach Bob Houghton felt it would be much more beneficial if the club sent their scouts to watch all the players in Barcelona instead.

"If the players impress, they could be signing a contract at Royal Antwerp very soon," Rock's partner and chief scout Arvind Narayanan said.

Royal Antwerp is among Belgium's leading club, but most importantly it remains a sister club to Manchester United. The Premier League champions regularly send players on loan to Antwerp so that their development can be aided with first team football.

"Royal Antwerp is a great club in Belgium for the development of Indian footballers. It will be good for our players to be rubbing shoulders with players that will eventually go on to play for such a big club like Manchester United," said Arvind.

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Comments (1)

Submitted by Taj (not verified) on Wed, 07/29/2009 - 18:47.

Royal Antwerp is not one of Belgium's most leading clubs, actually they are a club that plays in Belgium second tier. How does that make them one of Belgium's leading clubs? Yes, they enjoyed some success by playing in the UEFA Cup in the early nineties but other than that have not won a major trophy for over 3 decades. For the past 15 years, they have mostly been in the second division, except for 3 or 4 years where they got promoted. It is very disrespectful to call them one of Belgium's leading clubs, especially to the fans of other clubs in Belgium.

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