COVID WRECKS TRANSFERS
Football agent Mosiah Marshall says pandemic ruined fortunes of J’can players
Arespected Jamaican football agent says the novel coronavirus pandemic has swiped the fortunes of many local players as the trade and transactional aspects of the business took a heavy hit over the past year.
Mosiah Marshall, whose agency mostly represents players in North America and the Caribbean, argues that with football suspended for almost a year in Jamaica the hopes of many local players intending to move overseas were dashed.
The country’s top competition, the Premier League, was ruled null and void close to its end last year as COVID-19 descended on Jamaica. So far this year, organisers have failed to get the new season going as sports remained grounded due to the pandemic.
Marshall noted that it was nothing short of a miracle that some players still managed to secure deals with foreign clubs.
“It [COVID-19] has wrecked the fortunes of our players, as every club is looking for active players. I’m not sure what’s happening in each country, but for Jamaica, without a league for about a year, it’s not a good thing at all.
“[I must say] I’m actually surprised to see some movement for our local players. Kudos to those who were able to make it happen for them,” Marshall told the Jamaica Observer recently.
He argued that the pandemic’s impact on the normal course of things was not unique to Jamaica, but was felt in other countries in the Caribbean and even further afield.
Marshall said with the territories of the region bankrupt of top-quality professional club competitions, to not have active players due to the restrictive impact of the pandemic compounds the problem.
“Yes [there is a shortage of top leagues] and the [poor] infrastructure that goes with it — pitches, facilities, professionalism, and management,” he stated.
Marshall, a director of TSA Sports Agency, says while the Caribbean is seen as a source for football talent for clubs outside the region, he would love to see more players shipping off to greener pastures.
“It has been but can be much better. The talent is there, but several factors prevent us from exporting more talent. [For example, players] must learn what it means to be a professional; a willingness to work on technique and all technical aspects of the game.
“Also the mindset of the players; getting into Europe for the first time when a player is 18 or above and coming from Jamaica is extremely difficult. [Leon] Bailey, [John] Barnes and [Raheem] Sterling got there young.
“[Ricardo] Fuller and ‘Bibi’ [Ricardo Gardner] went young, but had great international exposure prior to that, as did [Walter] Boyd, ‘Pepe’ [Ian Goodison] and ‘Tappa’ [Theodore Whitmore],” Marshall reasoned.
The Fifa-accredited agent shares that most overseas clubs courting regional players look for specific qualities.
“[They look for] speed and strength, which could be looked at negatively, but we should use it to our advantage. You can’t build speed, as that’s the talent part. In terms of selling point in another sense, they [overseas clubs] tend to feel they can get our players easily — cheaply to be more precise,” Marshall asserted.
The New York-based Marshall warned Jamaican players, in particular, that should they want to make a move early in their careers to professional outfits, they must think big.
“They should not get caught up in the schoolboy football hype, which is the Manning Cup and Dacosta Cup, as that means nothing to scouts for pro teams,” Marshall noted.
He said requests for Caribbean players are coming from various jurisdictions, but that does not necessarily mean the region is prime real estate.
“There are always requests from various places around the world, but in terms of targeting, I don’t see that anymore. Maybe if we get to the World Cup things will change in our favour again,” said Marshall.
The Caribbean region may be seen by some to be an emerging market — with Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago the main targets for scouts — but the Jamaican agent thinks more could be established with greater opportunities for players to showcase their talent.
“There is a platform with the Concacaf Champions League and World Cup qualifying, but that is not enough. I would love to see some professional clubs do their preseason camps here [Jamaica] or include Jamaica on the preseason tour.
“Pitches are one of the problems though. In the case of cricket, Barbados has good pitches and no surprise they are consistently one of the best teams in the region,” Marshall stated.
He said with Concacaf restructuring its competition platform to include more competitive matches for clubs and national teams, there is a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, but not necessarily the glow he wants to see.
“It’s an improvement, no doubt, but I wouldn’t call it a game changer,” Marshall ended.