BY: Media Officer Foday Jatta

Paide Linnameeskond President Veiko Veskimäe said the Real de Banjul project excites them after seeing the City Boys’ investment and talents in their ranks.

Veskimäe was speaking at a Real de Banjul and Paide Linnameeskond joint press conference held at Kerr Real in Bakau.

The Paide delegation, led by its President, arrived in the country on Sunday and have watched both the first team, the U17s and U15s train.

The Estonian club’s Sporting Director Gert Kams and Fitness Coach Raiko Karpov have already trained the first team and will continue to do so until Friday.

It could be recalled that Paide supremos, President Veiko and CEO Jaanus Pruuli visited the country together in June where an agreement for a partnership between the two clubs was agreed, a deal brokered by the CEO of Modoustic Sports Management & PR, Modou Lamin Beyai.

The agreement between the two clubs includes increasing the capacity of Real de Banjul coaches, players and also scouting players that’ll be taken to Estonia to join Paide as their first European club.

Veskimäe shared his impression and excitement to have partnered with the 12-time Gambian league champions and what needs to be done to smoothen the transition of players to Europe saying: “We signed this MOU when we were here in June between the two clubs to make a good cooperation for a long time and we really see this as a good opportunity for both clubs and for the players. What impressed us about Real de Banjul is the good job it has done Gambian football as they’ve invested and this is something you need for a professional level because if you don’t invest, things don’t happen by themselves, you have to work on the way.”

Veiko added: “The training complex (Live Your Dream Sports Academy) in Basori is a great example of that and we have seen that the players are really good. So in our part, we can bring professional set-up of a European football club and that’s why we also have here our Sporting Director and the Fitness Coach who can give the players that level they need to develop to adopt more easily in Europe.”

“Mostly, when African players come to Europe, it takes them one or two years to adopt. So, we feel to seize this opportunity to bring along our coaches to give them some knowledge and experience of what we are doing in Europe. So, when the players come to Estonia to play in our club, they can adapt easily. It can be a really fruitful corporation for our clubs, so we are more than excited!”

William Abraham, President of Real de Banjul, expressed delight to have our counterparts in Estonia come back to the Gambia again.

“I think Paide is now a household name in the Gambia, knowing that we have two Gambians also from Real de Banjul that have played for them. Modoustic Sports PR placed two players in Paide; Muhammed Sanneh and Alassana Jatta and both of them deserved to be congratulated because both of them were excellent players on and off the pitch, very disciplined and well mannered players. I can say that this is part of what encouraged Paide to come to Gambia and see what is the secret behind this good job Real de Banjul has been doing with our players.”

Abraham added: “We decided to enter into this partnership with them to develop our technical department, developing the players, and scouting the players whilst they are here in Gambia. They (Paide) have been here for three days and we’ve seen already a big development in all the departments, which is the purpose of this MOU. The MOU will be developed very soon and will be into a contractual form and it’ll last for about 10 years. In this MOU, we’ve the possibility of sending our coaches to do further trainings in Estonia so that we can have the level of a European market in Gambia.”

“With this, we don’t have to send any more players to Europe were they will have to struggle for one to three years before they play in the first teams of European clubs. We want our players to be ready so that when they enter Europe, they already have the mentality, physicality and be technically ready to play for first team squads. This is something you can only achieve if you have good partners like Paide Linnameeskond who are ready to come and help us in these areas. Basically it is a win-win situation for both clubs because Paide also will take players from Gambia to their club, develop them for maybe one to three years and send them out of Estonia, to maybe bigger leagues.”

Jaanus Pruuli, the CEO of Paide, also shed light on their visit and expectations from the partnership saying: “The idea is to.always get good players, but at the moment we are still here to work closely on our partnership with Real de Banjul as we want to help them to develop the coaching structure and to also put modern coaching style into the club and to help the team achieve bigger things and the same time, of-course, hopefully the players will do well, because part of our visit here is to have an idea of the players to scout them and to see which players might be ready for the next step.”

He added: “This is a good cooperation with Real de Banjul and I think they have done a fantastic job in Gambia. The training complex in Basori which in African standards, I think it’s a huge investment because even in Estonia, in our highest league, some clubs don’t have these facilities, because most clubs rent those facilities from the local government.”

Paide Linnameeskond is a football club based in Paide, Estonia, and competes in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football. The club’s home ground is Paide linnastaadion.

Founded in 2004, the club has played in the Meistriliiga since 2009 and has never been relegated. They finished second in last year’s Premium Liiga.