BY: Media Officer Foday Jatta

Jaanus Pruuli, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Estonian club Paide Linnameeskond, says he is hoping to snap more Gambian talents for his club at the end of his scouting mission in the country.

The Paide Club supremo arrived into the Gambia early this week after a failed attempt to be here last year thanks to the outbreak of the Coronavirus disease.

The ‘Estonian Barcelona’ already “has experience with Gambian players” who they’ve signed from us in former Real de Banjul players Alassana Jatta who later moved to Viborg FF in Denmark and Muhammed Sanneh who also left this season to join Fortuna Liga side Banik Ostrava in the Czech Republic.

Speaking to the www.realdebanjul.com at Kerr Real, Mr. Pruuli shared his excitement and expectations after finally making it into the Gambia saying: “I was really looking forward to visiting the Gambia last year, I remember we even had tickets bought for me, the Club President and also the Sporting Director should’ve come, but of course the Covid-19 came and borders were totally closed so I really missed the opportunity. This year has been a little bit better with the Covid-19 situation, that is why I am able to come this time myself but hoping in the future we will come with a bigger delegation”.

He also says he is excited for what lies ahead in his short stay in the country.

“I am really looking forward to this great opportunity to see the country, to see the football matches and to see the national team playing (against Angola). We have a history with Gambian players and Real de Banjul players so it will be quite a busy trip sports-wise but of course I would also like to see Gambia and the country as a whole. It is really nice to be here”.

The Paide supremo hopes to scout some players at the end of his scouting mission in Gambia just in-time for the next transfer window.

“We as a football club have made quite big steps lately because in the last couple of years, we’ve managed to already play into the highest places; last year, we were second in the league, and of course the club has grown, the organization has grown. We already planned for the future, so, we already plan for the next transfer window and even beyond. So, if of course we notice here some great talent, it’s always an opportunity to have the next Gambian player, because at the moment both the boys (Alassana and Muhammed) who came to our club have already make the next step in their careers”.

Pruuli added: “Our strategy is always to recruit young players because it’s easy from Europe to just pay the money and find players of 25 to 30 years, but it’s much more interesting to be helping someone’s career to make first step in Europe and hopefully will go much higher level. Since the beginning of our club, at least when we talk about years of professional for the last four-five years our message has been that; we would like to be kind of a spring board for football players’ careers to help African players with adjustment in Europe, and when they’re ready to make the next step, we are happy to give the the opportunity, this is our strategy and it has been quite a success in Estonia because everybody is saying that Paide is doing something really well, and now we already see that some other clubs have started to take the same kind of strategy especially this season, one Estonian club signed five African players. So, in this visit it is maybe to check the players around twenty or even much younger”.

The Paide CEO also noted that his club will continue to see Gambia as his club’s source of talents because the country is filled with talents.

“Your country has done an amazing job, the national team is on the rise and also the  Under 20 who won third place in the 2021 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations. Gambia football is surely going up and you have loads of talent in the country.”

Jaanus Pruuli also made good comments on their former stars saying: “We were missing Alassana Jatta’s goals in 2019 because when he left us to move to Denmark, other clubs overtook us and we lost our top three place because of that, I can’t say the same for Muhammed because he just left but he has been a rock in our defence and you can’t get pass him”.