Honda steers young Thai talents to Man Utd, Liverpool academies
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Some of the country's best young players are set to undergo preparations at Thai Premier League outfit BEC Tero Sasana before flying to England to train at Premier League clubs Liverpool and Manchester United next month.
The young talents came through the AP Honda Red Champion: Road to LFC & MUFC Academy project, run for the second successive year by AP Honda, which has a partnership deal with the two English clubs. This year Honda broadened the scheme by handing winners of school soccer tournaments in each of the country’s five regions a chance to train at the world-class facilities in England. It also gave the teams a choice – which club did they want to train at. Two sides chose Liverpool and the Melwood training complex, while the other three selected Manchester and the Carrington complex. They will leave for their five-day training stints in England at the beginning of next month.
“From only two teams in the first year, we have expanded it to five sides this time,” said Suchart Arunsaengroj, AP Honda sales director.
But it’s not just the young players who will benefit from the trip, Suchart adds.
“After realising the important role they play, we also invited directors and trainers from each school to join the trip.
“We believe both trainers and directors have a key role in developing sport in our country. We hope they can use the experience from the trip to improve football training in their respective schools.”
To ensure the players make the most of the opportunity, AP Honda and BEC Tero will hold a three-day preparation camp at the latter’s ground in Minburi between February 27 and March 1.
“We want to prepare them in all aspects first before they embark on the tour to train at Liverpool and Manchester United. We hope the three-day camp will greatly benefit them,” said BEC Tero manager Thanya Wongnak.
“During the three days, we’ll focus on basic skills – not much different from what they will learn at the two English clubs. The training programme prepared for them has been designed by our academy director Bertrand Crasson, a former Belgium international.
“We’ll make the course similar to the ones the players will experience at the two English clubs and we’ll use English language instruction to help them get familiar with the simple English used during the training abroad.”
