Why We Chose Nigeria - Wellington

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Club president of Corinthians Mineros, a lower division side in Brazil, Wellington Santos in this interview with SportsDay’s Ag. Editor Weekend RAYMOND NWADUBA reveals their reason for choosing Nigeria as destination for the setting up of their proposed football academy. He also spoke on many other issues like their focus for the academy, plans and many more…

Can we get to meet you for the benefit of our readers?

I’m Wellington Santos the club president of Sports Club Corinthians Mineros a lower division club based in Brazil.

We learnt that you are interested in establishing a football academy in Nigeria, why Nigeria and not other African countries?

Yes I’m interested in having a world class football academy set up in Nigeria -the type you have in Europe. This is with the help of another Nigerian partner, Michael Adjuya who lives in Brazil here. We have been nursing this ambition for quite some time now but by the grace of God we should have perfected plans to have the project kick started latest by next year. We all know that Nigeria is richly blessed with abundant talents who are trainable and can become super stars with just a little more training. We are still considering where exactly to set up the academy between Abuja, Lagos or Warri otherwise we ought to have started by now. A lot is still being put into considering here so that we can get it right from the onset to avoid us struggling when we eventually commence.

What exactly got you interested in Nigerian players?

The truth is that seeing the performances of Nigerian teams at international competitions especially at youth level you cannot but admire them. This was where my interest got aroused but the real reason I got interested in Nigerian players is simply because they are naturally endowed skill wise like Brazilians and they are also physically fit with lots of good talents as well. They equally have space for young up and coming stars that can be nurtured and molded into future stars with good coaching and exposure to better training facilities. This is exactly what we are offering them.

How much do you know about Nigerian football?

Well, I have never been to Nigeria but with the information I have; Nigeria has a large market of quality players that can be transferred. This is why we want to have our academy there so that we can have our own pool to draw from. We are optimistic about the whole thing and we hope that our venture in Nigeria will be worth the while.

Tell us, is it only Brazil that you will transfer the players to or you also have contacts in other European countries?

Of course it is not only Brazil that we will move the players to. We have contacts in United States of America, Asia and other countries European and South American countries. The fact is that when we bring the Nigerian players here, we will arrange trial matches between them and top clubs here in Brazil where they can be assessed. Then those who are good enough will be scouted and taken by scouts of other clubs even from other countries who can talk to us. But sometimes if a player is not good enough to play here we take the player to Portugal to have more playing time and develop as a footballer which is something most big clubs do.

A lot of agents enslave players, what exactly does your organization have in stock for Nigerian players to ensure they don’t get enslaved?

We are not agents and we don’t have any agreement with any agent to bring in any player rather it’s a club to club arrangement that we are involved in. This means that players who are under our management are well and fairly represented.

How long has your football club been in existence?

The club has been in existence since the past 8 years now where we have been in the business of scouting and developing young talents for the national teams. We have had many players who passed through us that we discovered from oblivion and has now blossomed into top stars.

Five years from now where exactly do you expect this dream to be?

In the first five years after we have started up the academy we will build good players, discuss with cooperate companies to help out by coming in as sponsors and then facilitate the transfer of the players from Nigeria to Brazil and beyond and from Brazil to Nigeria. It will also be a time to create a social working environment so that all bottlenecks that usually emanate during players transfer are curtailed to the barest. It will be a period to actually build bridges and lay sold and concrete structures fr the future. .

On a last note, what is your message to young Nigerians who read this?

My message to them is to be patient and keep doing what they know best – football and that by the time we resume operations we will find them no matter where they may be as long as they are good players. We also want to use this medium to inform them that what we plan bringing to Nigeria is a world class academy which can compete with anyone around the world.

Thank you so much for your time.

It’s my pleasure.

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