© EuroFootball.com
Successful season of the Lithuanian U-17 national football team, composed of graduates of the National Football Academy (NFA) - winning the LFF U-17 international tournament cup in Palanga and recently securing a ticket to the "Elite" stage of the European U-17 Championship qualifiers in Serbia for the first time - did not go unnoticed.
NFA graduates forward Simonas Stankevičius and defender Tomas Dombrauskis joined the ranks of the well-known English second division "Championship" club "Leicester City".
They proved their talent in the qualifiers
NFA graduates attracted considerable attention from English clubs after a friendly match marathon last summer. The most serious offer came from the prestigious, four-time English cup winner, "Leicester City" club, which wanted to see S.Stankevičius and T.Dombrauskis born in 1995 in their ranks. After a successful trial at Leicester, the club signed contracts with both players.
According to NFA director Raimondas Statkevičius, "Leicester City" football academy applies high selection criteria, so meeting them is a great achievement.
"Especially when a footballer comes from another country. The principle is that foreigners must be much more talented than locals," said R.Statkevičius.
According to the academy director, both players will have excellent conditions to develop in the new club, as the priority of English second division teams is not fast results, but youth development.
"I spoke with the boys' parents. They were pleasantly surprised by the professionalism of the English club, the attention to youth, and infrastructure. In addition, the club pays special attention to the overall education of the players," said R.Statkevičius.
Cooperation with "Leicester City" clubs is expected to continue in the future. According to the head of the NFA, guests from England are expected to arrive soon.
Established contacts with a "Premier" league club
S.Stankevičius and T.Dombrauskis are not the first NFA graduates to join strong foreign clubs. Aurimas Vilkaitis represents the youth team of Rome's "Lazio", defender Edvinas Girdvainis plays for Padova's "Padova", Deimantas Petravičius moved to the English "Nottingham Forest", NFA graduate Lukas Lidakevičius belongs to "Barnsley", and Martynas Dapkus represents the Israeli club "Maccabi Haifa".
NFA maintains relationships with many foreign clubs, and cooperation is constantly expanding. In early September, R.Statkevičius visited England, where he visited the "Sunderland" club in the English Premier League. The director of the NFA invited the English to come to Lithuania and get acquainted with the academy's activities and players up close.
"In England, I had the opportunity to observe a lot of training sessions, as well as the matches of their U-16 and U-18 teams. Next week, representatives of "Sunderland" will visit our academy, participate in training sessions, observe the academy's players, and make decisions regarding further cooperation," said R.Statkevičius.
The National Football Academy, which is preparing the next generation for the Lithuanian national team, has been operating for five years. At the moment, the academy is training 43 young talents of various ages.
