25-06-2022, 08:48 PM
Not convinced about the standard of football in Venezuela. The national side are usually the whipping boys of South American football and their success in the Under 20s was a bit of a one-off.
Have visited the country and watched a top flight game in Caracas against a side from Merida. Doubt there were more than 3,000 fans there (the previous night I watched my first and only baseball game and there were 20,000+ in the same stadium!).
Rather than focus on recruiting players direct from the 'other' South American countries, I'd instead look at South American youth players already based in Spain or Portugal. There are loads with dual nationality and somewhere like Galicia (Celta Vigo and Deportivo La Coruna) has strong links with South America with the advantage that the players have at least experienced European culture.
Have visited the country and watched a top flight game in Caracas against a side from Merida. Doubt there were more than 3,000 fans there (the previous night I watched my first and only baseball game and there were 20,000+ in the same stadium!).
Rather than focus on recruiting players direct from the 'other' South American countries, I'd instead look at South American youth players already based in Spain or Portugal. There are loads with dual nationality and somewhere like Galicia (Celta Vigo and Deportivo La Coruna) has strong links with South America with the advantage that the players have at least experienced European culture.