Niall Quinn praises Gavin Bazunu signing for City in a ‘monumental moment’

By Liam Mackey

Niall Quinn believes there is huge significance for Irish football in the signing of Shamrock Rovers goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu by Manchester City.

It was recently announced that the two clubs have agreed a €400,000 deal for the 16-year-old, but also that Bazunu will not actually join the Premier League champions until after he completes his Leaving Cert next summer.

For Quinn, that represents a seismic shift in how Ireland can develop and export top young footballing talent.

It is a monumental moment that no-one has quite got hooked up on the way I have, that Man City, a top, top club, have paid €400,000 for him and are letting him complete his Leaving Cert,” said Quinn.

“What that is saying is that they are trusting his talent. This is a guy who has proved himself in Ireland, not by going to a club in England every six weeks on trial. He has found a pathway, a golden pathway in my mind. Surely, the days are gone where we throw them across there, and leave them at nothing, where 93% of them don’t get a second pro contract, so this is a huge thing for me, because it means Manchester City trust a development programme that is happening in this country.

I think the Emerging Talent programmes in place here are not too far behind, when the players hit 15, 16, but you can think back to Manchester City and when they brought a couple of 12 years olds across from Cherry Orchard because they wanted them earlier, they were not trusting of the system.

"Well, the very same club have now paid big money for a guy who they won’t get their hands on until he completes his Leaving Cert. That is a huge difference, a huge shift.”

The goal now, says Quinn, should be to aim to make the Bazunu transfer the rule rather than the exception.

“I would support anything that would put a programme in place in this country. I would actively back it, if it meant Premier League clubs were saying ‘yes, that player was at that Emerging Talent Programme, therefore that player is more than good enough’. That is what happens in Spain, Portugal, in England, at St George’s Park. It is time for that to be looked at as a serious option.

“Have we the ability to do that? Maybe all the work (FAI high-performance director) Ruud Dokter is doing needs to be extended to an almost bigger plan. I saw the guys, Richard Sadlier and Stephen Kenny, speaking during the week about the need for a government interjection. Possibly, but you need a plan. You can’t go to government with a bowl and say ‘give us money’. You need to say, ‘this is what we are going to try and do’.

“You get clubs to back us. You learn from the academies that are in place in England. You bring in expertise. This is a dream, I know, but if you want our players to be respected then something is going to have to give, but there is a great tonic here that there is a young lad who is going across after doing his Leaving Cert.”