Dubai: As talk about the great Diego Maradona putting pen to paper as Al Wasl Club's new coach makes the rounds, don't be too surprised to see other stars like Pedro, Messi, Puyol, Iniesta, Pique or Xavi also coming down to visit the club in Dubai in the near future.
Not because the high-profile Maradona will be the manager, but because of a certain Albert Benaiges who has taken over as the club's director of youth development.
FC Barcelona, due to play for the Uefa Champions League title against Manchester United on May 28, have seven of their members in the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa. And Benaiges is the one who can rightly take the credit for making these players into stars for the modern generation in his capacity as technical director of FCB Escola — the Catalan club's in-house academy.
"This is not about me. I am just the one who was entrusted with the task of guiding these players and I did my job. I was like the potter and they were the clay in my hands," Benaiges told Gulf News on the sidelines of the 1st Dubai International Football Academies Forum held earlier this week.
Armed with a single-minded approach and the hard-core experience of guiding the best for nearly two decades, Benaiges will be the next big thing at the Zabeel club as he seeks to work on what he has at his disposal rather than go for foreign talent that more often than not fails to deliver in alien conditions.
"There is no difference for me when it comes to football. There is no such thing as a well-built footballer. Give me a player who is short but intelligent and I will show you the magic," Benaiges promised.
No difference
A look at the current Barca squad is enough of an indication here. "These players are all short, but they are smart, intelligent, fast, and follow my instructions," he said.
So there is going to be no difference between working in Barcelona or in Dubai for this 63 year old. "It really does not matter as I will use the same pedagogy and method of FC Barcelona. The only difference between the two clubs is that Barca is famous and Al Wasl is not. But don't worry, this will change in due course of time," he said.
However, given the Gulf record of running out of patience and sacking coaches with the first signs of failure, the Spaniard knows he has to be wary somewhere. He not only made five visits to Dubai to have a closer look at the club psyche and its facilities, but also ensured he had a clause on premature sacking inserted in his contract.
Plenty of patience
"I won't promise anyone, anything at Al Wasl, but I can promise you players of the quality of Messi, Iniesta and Xavi a few years down the line. Preparing players takes time, patience and tremendous amount of belief from the club's fans, supporters and board members," he narrated.
"There is no magic in the creation of players. They are the talent and I as coach have to understand the person first then give him time to tap into his talent and play the beautiful game. I want to change the mentality of the sport here and it is going to take some time," Benaiges added.
