The corridors of Dubai and Abu Dhabi hotels where the U-17 teams stayed for the FIFA U-17 World Cup was littered with European scouts and talent hunters in a bid to discover the next Messi or Christiano Ronaldo. The scouts, whose covert operation resembles the work of Major spy agencies and their reconnaissance always shrouded with secrecy, have been seen monitoring Iran’s U-17 camp.
Despite the secrecy, it was apparent that one or several Iranian youngsters are under the microscope. Dutch, German and French scouts have been asking questions and attending matches while preparing reports and dossiers about potential player that can be recruited at this age and trained professionally in Europe.
Despite our best efforts, there was no firm indication on which of the Iranian players has been focused on or raised the interest of the Europeans. Speculation was rife about one or two players that have attracted the interest of the scouts as potential recruits. The two players are Majid Hosseini and Saeid Ezzatolahei. In fact , a British TV commentator was confident that the latter player has been approached by scouts , although he did not disclose the source of his information.
The fact that young Iranians players are on the radar of the European clubs, is quite a motivating factor for the others to excel. Despite the sad loss to a much better team and technically accomplished Nigerian team, and the elimination from the championship, there were some sterling displays by the Iranian players in the 4 matches played. Individual skills, physical strength and some delicate footwork by the Iranian young players, impressed many observers.
Presence of Mehdi Mahdavikia amongst the Technical cadre of Iran’s U-17 team was also an attraction to the German scouts particularly. Mahdavikia a veteran of German football who played in the Bundesliga for the majority of his professional career was a popular star in Hamburg SV while playing for VfL Bochum and Eintracht Frankfurt as well. Mahdavikia was a grat ambassador for Iranian football in Germany.
Saeid Ezzatolahei who was born in Anzali , is a member of Malavan Anzali club. His father Nader , was one of the senior Malavan players.