We ‘ll make Sunshine Stars’ U -17 talent hub –Commissioner

By Femi Atolagbe
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Ondo State government is ready to invest in the Sunshine Stars under-17 and make the team a talent hub for the state.
Yusuf-Ogunleye allayed their fear that the team will be neglected by the government, saying “I’m here today to identify with you and assure you of our support”.
He said: “Before we go outside to sign players for Sunshine Stars, we would have promoted some of you to the team, which means we will just add few from the outside to make our team .”
“I appreciate all of you that put everything in place to ensure that the team are together and also share same vision with the state government on why we need to return to the golden old days of OSFODEC, where the likes of Abe Sunday, Dayo Ojo, Geoffrey Oboabona and host of others were discovered.”
The commissioner stated this during an unscheduled visit to the team’s training ground at the Ondo State Sports complex, Akure.
He assured the players and their officials that government will give them the needed attention, saying he has approved their participation in the scouting programme scheduled for next week outside the state, where talented players would be discovered.
According to him, I’m happy that your new Team Manager has resumed, he told me he has resumed duty, we want him to bring his vast experience in the game to bear for the rapid transformation of this team.
“I admonish all of you to prove yourself that you are good players, so that you can be counted among the best football players in the world.”
“We will give some of you that looked older than u-17 chance to prove yourself in the senior team, we will give you the chance that is just the truth”.
He however, promised to watch the U-17 friendly match on Friday at the stadium.
The Technical Director of the team, Oladimeji Abimbola thanked the Commissioner for the visit and his words of encouragement.
He said: “The players have been so eager to see the commissioner and I thank you for identifying with us”.
“There are lots of rumours going round everywhere that they will be abandoned, thank God they are hearing from you directly that their careers are protected”, he said.