To go abroad or to stay
There is no doubt that Big Bullets attacker Frank Gabadini Mhango is the man of the moment in local football and he is hogging the limelight both on and off the pitch. Not surpriaingly, his exploits have also attracted the attention of scouts for foreign clubs and the media reported in the week of some real interest from South Africa’s Jomo Cosmos who would like to assess the player.
Because of that reported interest, there has been some debate on whether it is too early for the player to take the plunge at this nascent stage of his career or he should bide his time and cut his teeth first before turning professional. Most commentators whose views I have heard so far seem to suggest that the player is too young and his progress can only be aided by staying on the local scene for a while.
If you asked me, there is no right age for a player to go out and start a football career even though there is a minimum age for signing a professional contract. I would also want to argue that there is no guarantee that remaining in the country would be the best option for the development of any young footballer given some real examples from other players in the last decade or so.
It is worth pointing out that Lionel Messi was not yet a teenager when Barcelona plucked him from his home Argentina. What the Spanish giants did was to ensure that he did not lack parental care by bringing his father along with him. Several players who go to European clubs before the age of 18 either move with their parents or live with some family while at the academy where they combine football with school.
I remember in the past, young players in Malawi were under similar stewardship where, for example, a player would be kept at Wanderers club from where he would go to school and was properly looked after. Players spotted misbehaving were not looked at kindly even by the fans. If that were still the case, I would support those who say Gabadini should stay at home for a little longer.
The reality, however, is that the climate in the country at the moment is such that promising players have failed to realise their full potential because they have not been properly looked after. Very few teams are willing to pay school fees for players and not many club officials care about the kind of life the players lead away from the training ground. In fact, I do not know of any policy by FAM to govern this.
I remember some 10 years ago going to pick a friend on the way to work. One of his neighbours was a very famous football player who, we were all made to believe, was still a teenager. Almost every morning we went there, there was a different woman — I mean woman — sweeping outside the house. One of them was actually wearing the player’s track suit.
This was a player who was as famous as Gabadini is today and one could see him becoming a star, but he is now forgotten. One of his teachers told me that at most, he reported to school twice a week and, even then, disappeared before knock-off time. He was left to live on his own and with his celebrity status, he had all the fun the world could offer. Now nobody cares about him.
That is why it may actually be beneficial for players like Gabadini to go outside if there is assurance that they would be better looked after than here where we are told he has not found school particularly attractive.
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