Messina mine for Maltese talent

By Domenic Aquilina

Sicilian side FC Messina Peloro have opened up a football school to mine for young talent in Malta.

Reaching out
Messina, who play their football in Italy's Serie A, announced the opening of the new academy last week, with the head of the club's youth programme Claudio Lucchini emphasising at a press conference in Valletta that Messina were keen to reach out to Maltese youngsters. "We have chosen Malta for a variety of reasons," Lucchini told uefa.com. "The island is very close to us geographically and the people involved in football in Malta have a great passion for the game just like we have at our club."

Short hop
Malta is a short hop over the Mediterrannean Sea from Messina's base in Sicily, and as Lucchini was keen to underline, youngsters on both islands have similar aspirations. "Our young children have a lot of dreams," he said. "They dream that someday they too will be able to play alongside their football heroes in front of thousands of spectators. For most it looks an impossible dream but we are ready to help some of them achieve this dream of theirs."

Scouring operation
For the moment, Messina are focusing on children aged between six and 12 years old. The club are already scouring the island for the best youngsters and are expected to start holding trials in July with a view to staging their first official training session in September 2005.

Dedicated staff
"The Messina coaching staff involves highly dedicated individuals who will try to make the best of the young talent available on Malta," said Lucchini. "It will be our responsibility to ensure that the children have fun taking part. Messina will ensure that this is done in the right manner."

Messina commitment
Messina's move to Malta is the latest evidence of their commitment to finding the best youngsters. The club already runs around 40 football schools in Sicily with 5,000 young footballers coming under their watchful eye, but the Maltese move is the first sign of a new proactive search for players.

Italian initiative
For the 2006/07 season, the club are planning to launch further grassroots academies in six other Italian regions, one of which - in Italy's footballing capital Milan - will cater for around 4,000 youngsters. The club hope to have established a network of such academies by 2008.

Local allies
Meanwhile, they are aiming to establish themselves on Malta too. On their tour of the island, Messina officials visited nursery clubs like Hamrun Spartans FC, San Gwann FC and Luxol St Andrews FC with a view to developing links with local sides to help establish their base.

Charm offensive
The idea is that the pick of the Maltese Scuola Calcio Messina graduates might have the chance to cross over to Sicily at the age of 12 to join the club's senior academy. However, the side are just as keen to encourage new supporters as to unearth new players, with the senior team planning a trip to the island.

'Great advert'
"Messina hope that Maltese football fans will gradually start following our club and enrol in our membership scheme," Messina marketing and communications director Mario Bonsignore told uefa.com. "The new grassroots football school is certainly going to be a great advert for our club.

Reciprocal deal
"We are doing our utmost to boost the status of our club outside Italy," he added. "Malta seems to have all the criteria to help us in this objective. In return, we want to give Maltese youngsters the chance to maximise their talents through the Scuola Calcio."