Arsene Wenger to visit India to oversee scouting overhaul to find top Indian talents

It was previously revealed that FIFA’s Chief of Global Development, Arsene Wenger, would be helping India on their Vision 2047 project. And more details of his contribution have come to the forefront now. 

The former Arsenal manager will be visiting the country soon, as revealed by AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey. He will help improve the scouting system in the country so that talent can be identified at a young age, and developed further. 

Arsene Wenger to visit India to revamp scouting system 

“We are discussing with Arsene’s team and trying to formulate a strategy for talent identification,” Kalyan Chaubey told TOI. “He will visit India sooner or later, but will not stay here. He can motivate us by his presence. He will lead a team, maybe formed on Fifa’s advice or by ourselves, with foreigner or Indian scouts, and thereafter they will follow the guidelines of Arsene.”

“Arsene has a strategy that will benefit football all around the world. He collaborates with FIFA and believes that a talent can develop into a good player if it is recognised at the age of 12 and is given the right training and coaching.”

“This is also our mantra. How do we do this? We have a scouting department and I have spoken with Shaji several times how we can make this scouting department pan India. In each football-playing state, we should have four or five in-house scouts who watch all the matches. We are working on that,” said Chaubey. 

This will be one of the first major procedures to help improve football at the grassroot level in India. Arsene Wenger’s team will also set up a centre of excellence as part of their the Talent Development Scheme, by 2026.