Michel Salgado stresses on total professionalism

Dubai: Former Spain and Real Madrid star Michel Salgado has stressed that there is no alternative to total professionalism.

Speaking at the launch of the build-up to the annual ‘Dubai Football Academies Week’ at the Dubai Sports Council (DSC) on Sunday, Salgado said: “It’s very important that players learn about the concept of being a total professional from a young age. Once they get this concept right, then it is a matter of translating this on the field while playing.

“I have a fantastic story to tell young aspiring players of how I dreamed and made it to the highest stage in football. It’s an amazing story and I hope it can inspire some of the footballers from the UAE to play on the international stage in the near future,” he said.

“Everyone wants to watch Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, but very few would think of the day-to-day struggles of such great players in reaching their dreams. The academies are very important and hopefully our young players here will get this lesson through,” Salgado added.

The Spaniard also stressed he was willing to be involved in the DSC’s initiative at all six clubs in the emirate. The build-up to the annual Dubai Football Academies Week’ will take off on Monday.

Ali Omar, Director of sports entities at DSC announced the launch of the week aimed at several initiatives - starting with a special session involving senior players meeting juniors at the six clubs along with Salgado.

Monday’s meeting, themed “You are the future,” is aimed at giving the junior players the opportunity to meet and interact with the senior team players and get a feel of what it is to play top-level football.

On Tuesday, Al Ahli will make a presentation at the DSC premises on their new football academy scheduled to be launched in September.

Wednesday has been dedicated to future goalkeepers at all six clubs with several former goalkeepers in the UAE getting involved in training juniors who are perceived as the future at their respective clubs.

There will be two separate sessions on Thursday, with the first one focusing on having the UAE coaches prepared to take over various assignments at professional clubs while the second one will be have a pool of junior goalkeepers who can be placed at various clubs in the UAE.

The week-long activities will be capped off with the Dubai Football Academies Forum at the Hotel InterContinental Festival City on June 1-2. There will also be a special awards presentation for the best football academy in Dubai on June 13.