3 Indian U-19 players to train at FC Metz the academy that produced Pires, Saha

3 INDIAN UNDER-19 players will be sent to France to train at renowned club FC Metz, the AIFF announced at an event in New Delhi today.

The players, cadets from the AIFF academy in Goa named Anirudh Thapa, Prosenjit Chakraborty and Jerry Lalrinzualathat, will be sent to the French club to train with their academy and have a shot at proving their worth and possibly earning a professional contract at the Ligue 2 club.

AIFF President Praful Patel praised the initiative and said,

"These are important baby steps in the right direction for the growth of Indian Football. The idea is to develop from a young stage."

Mr Scheaffer, the Director of FC Metz, was also present at the occasion. He said,

“It is important to train at the highest level and to improve you have to consistently train at the highest level every day. Our aim is to offer the boys that. The boys will train with our players and we will review them for a professional contract.”

FC Metz have been involved with Indian football for a while. Apart from organizing annual grassroot level tournaments, they played an advisory role when AIFF were setting up the Indian Arrows project. 

The Indian senior national team is also reportedly going to going to hold a training camp at FC Metz in the summer.

The boys, meanwhile, are excited to be a part of the academy that produced international stars like Robert Pires and Louis Saha. But they did not forget to thank the mentors whose guidance helped them get here. Prosenjit said,

“Our Coaches have played an integral role in our upbringing. I would like to thank Gautam-Sir [Gautam Ghosh], [Syed] Pasha-Sir and all the support staff for helping me develop."

Jerry agreed to his teamamte,

“Even Scott-Sir (AIFF’s Technical Director Scott O’Donell) helped us learn the nitty gritties of the game and that has taken us far in our Footballing careers so far.”