Dubai: Andrea Borg’s academy coach Chris Brown says the Maltese forward has lit the way for young expatriate footballers in the UAE after signing for English League One (third tier) side Peterborough United earlier this month.
UAE clubs have the option of taking just four foreigners in their youth teams but often overlook the non-compulsory ruling in favour of prioritising Emirati talent.
This leaves expatriate talent going to waste locally unless they leave the country.
But 16-year-old Dubai-based Borg, who penned a two-year apprenticeship to start with The Posh this summer after completing his studies at GEMS Wellington, has shown that a player can train with a local academy, like he did with It’s Just Football, and still get picked up by an overseas club.
“It’s a huge achievement for a Dubai-based player to sign a full-time contract with a professional club in England because the level is so high and the competition is so fierce in comparison to youth football in the UAE,” said Brown.
“I think it shows that although the system here still needs many years of maturity to catch up with standards abroad [with it being such a young country by comparison] we do have players here who possess excellent ability and coaches of a high enough standard to hone this talent, enabling youngsters to have a shot of achieving their ambitions in the highest levels of world football.
“This shows other players in Dubai that they can realise the start of their dreams if they possess the right ability, and show commitment and drive, as without the last two attributes you have no chance. They also need to work under the right coaches who have the knowledge and contacts to get them there.”
Brown adds that Borg must keep his feet on the ground however.
“I believe Peterborough wouldn’t have signed an unknown player from overseas unless they believed he had the potential to make the first team.
“But he now needs to work hard to soak up the knowledge of the coaches and players around him plus steer clear of the temptations faced by young footballers to realise his ambitions of playing in the Football League and beyond.
“I always believed he had the ability to make it, knowing the standard required, and his drive and determination coupled with the support of his family. And that has got him to where he is now, but this is just the start, something which I have been keen to emphasise to Andrea.”
Borg is believed to be only the third such example of this after German goalkeeper Fabian Speiss and South African defender Kieran Geldenhuys, both of whom signed for then League One side Notts County in 2010 and 2012 respectively.
Speiss, 22, now plays in England’s sixth tier with Boston United, while Geldenhuys, 20, is on a football scholarship with Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the US.
