BANGKOK, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Coach of Manchester City football club
Sven-Goran Eriksson signed three Thai young players to the English
Premiership League team at a ceremony in Bangkok Friday
morning.
The three Thai players, 25-year-old Suree Sukha, Teerasil Dangda,
19, and Kiatprawut Saiwaew, 21, signed the contracts at the
ceremony, which made them the first professional Thai players to
join an English Premiership football club.
The move to recruit three Thais are also part of the newly-adopted
strategy of the club's new boss Thaksin Shinawatra, the ousted Thai
prime minister who now lived in London, which is to engage more
talented Asian, including Thai players with the team.
The club is aiming to develop into a more global brand, as stated
in a video message delivered by Thaksin.
Thaksin took over the English Premier side this July in a
61-million-pound deal to become the club's new chairman, and
appointed Swedish Ericsson, the former England manager, as the new
Manchester City manager.
Also present at Friday's press conference are Sun Jihai, the first
Chinese footballer to join Manchester City and has served the term
for more than five years, and Pantongtae Shinawatra, the son of
Thaksin, acting on his father's behalf to witness the
signing.
Eriksson and Sun has just finished a trip to Shanghai, China to
develop a cooperation relationship with the Shanghai Shenhua
football club, one of China's top teams. Three Chinese players have
been engaged for trials with the team later in the year.
Asked about the potentials of the Thai players, Ericsson said it
was up to the three to show to him.
Thaksin also plans to set up a Manchester City football academy in
Thailand, which is aimed as a training center for Thai youth
footballers, and also other youngsters from the Southeast Asia
region, in accordance with international standards.
Jim Cassell, manager of the Manchester City Academy in Britain, has
been assigned to be responsible for the project of setting up the
Thai version of the Academy.
