Arsenal set up academy for Greece and Balkans

English Premier League club Arsenal are launching a new
academy in Loutraki in a bid to uncover young talent in Greece and the Balkans.

Located on the current site of Sportcamp, the Arsenal Elite Academy Greece is aimed at young players aged between 12 and 16, who will be recruited from Greece and the surrounding countries.

The initiative has been orchestrated by ex-Gunners player Steve Morrow, who is now International Partnership Development Manager with Arsenal Football Club, and has spent much time working with Sportcamp in Greece in order to launch this project.

Morrow has appointed Arsenal Soccer School coach Adam Day as the Head Coach for the new academy. Day, together with qualified Greek coaches will work on a full-time basis with up to 30 young recruits at any one time at the academy.

"The introduction of the Arsenal Elite Academy Greece will give many young talented footballers in this area of the world the opportunity to develop their skills in a professional environment," said Morrow.

"We are all realistic to identify that it will be very hard for any young footballer to become a future Arsenal player, but we are proud to be offering young footballers from Greece and the Balkan regions a great opportunity to fulfill their potential as players."

Ex-Greece international Lakis Papaioannou is the Technical Director of Arsenal Soccer Schools Greece and is leading the scouting and recruitment effort in the Balkans.

"We have thousands of talented young footballers in this country and across the Balkan regions and it's fantastic that a club with the profile and history of Arsenal has decided to give our young players an opportunity to develop their potential as footballers," he said.








source: SPORTINGREECE