Blues look to Far East youth

McLeish hopeful connections can entice Asian talents

Last updated: 27th July 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Blues look to Far East youth

McLeish: Wants talent from Far East

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Birmingham are to broaden their scouting horizons in an attempt to discover talents in the Far East from this season.

The move comes in the wake of a successful tour of China and Hong Kong, where they won three friendly matches as they try to increase interest in the club.

Carson Yeung, who bought the club last season, is a native of Hong Kong and has given the Blues further connections on the continent.

As a result of this the club are to open several academies to try and attract the best young players to play for the Midlands side in the future.

"Because of our Asia contacts, we should be spreading the net out here and getting them (potential players) when they are younger," said manager Alex McLeish.

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"I am willing to explore the market. You look at the guys in the past from the Far East who have been great ambassadors.

"Nakata played in England and Serie A and Zheng Zhi was at Celtic, plus people like Du Wei and Fan Zhiyi.

"If I am being recommended Asian players who are already playing in Europe, then that's too late and you've got to buy them expensive.

"Like I said, with our contacts in the region, we should be getting them younger.

"But, if there are any out there now, they would have to be good enough to play week in and week out in the Premier League."