NEW!! Thai Talent Drain by Alan Gibson: 2020

Thai Talent Drain 

by Alan Gibson

Looking in from the outside, it appears that the Thai league has much to be concerned about with the increased overseas interest in their players. Apart from the talent drain, mainly to Japan recently - hence my "involvement", there is, of course, the problem that so many involved in the local game may be lining their own pockets. too (a different story completely, of course and one that should be pursued further, separately).

There is possibly, however, the consolation that the national team will grow in experience and stature (and I'm sure my old sparring partner Akira Nishino, as Thai national team manager, will be preferring it this way. He is passionate, knowledgeable about the game and not afraid to have a go at the referee - hence my use of "sparring partner" there, as I refereed many Gamba Osaka training matches when he was manager there! But I digress, as is often the case).

The J.League was in the same position 15 or so years ago - and still is to some extent - with a loss of local talent, mostly to Germany. We have seen the league lose its best players regularly, but the national team has undoubtedly improved.

I can fully understand the problems that the Thai league is currently facing. Firstly, consider the imports - and no offence is meant to these players - but, for example, many of the Brazilians that play in Thailand are there after Europe, the Arab states, China, Brazil itself, the J.League, and probably Korea have all had their choice first.

So, in this respect, they can be considered, for whatever reason, 6th-rate Brazilians. Are they as good as the best that young Thailand has to offer? Are they keeping out young Thai talent from the league? I've asked this same question numerous times over two decades in Japan. The (mostly) Brazilian imports - three for each team - were often not really that good - except for the standouts that we remember. 

They were (are?) often players who were not necessarily improving and adding to the game in Japan, and, for me, hampered the progress of young Japanese players. For every Zico, Leonardo, Amaral, Lucas, Hulk or Sidiclei - to name but a few of the classy Brazilians that have graced our game - there were dozens of no-name players who came along because agents had influence, or teams lacked scouting and just took what they saw on video.

For me, the foreign imports that have come to Japan as nobodies, and given (or are giving) their all, becoming fan favourites and contributing to the game itself, are to be applauded and embraced - and I can think of many - but a multitude of them just fall by the wayside, after already killing off some local talent on the way by just being at the club in their position, and getting priority because they were foreign imports.

Of course the counter view is that the players who were being kept out of the teams had to work harder to improve, or were never good enough in the first place. But I didn't see it that way. The up and coming players had less opportunity, which meant that some lost their chance or their confidence and just quit the game. A huge loss in the end, to the Japanese footballing pyramid.

Thailand needs to work on young, Thai players to come in and replace those going overseas. Then when those who have been plying their trade abroad return, embrace them and use their experience to help others grow.

In the meantime, the Thai national team should be improving and you can be sure that a great manager is in place to help with that!

Alan Gibson - JSoccer Magazine editor