Samvel Petrosyan is committed to fielding Armenian
talent at Pyunik Tuesday, 9 January 2007
by Khachik Chakhoyan
from Yerevan
FC Pyunik coach Samvel Petrosyan told uefa.com that he
is committed to using local players as his club seek a
seventh successive Armenian title in 2007.
Homegrown talent
Having taken charge of Pyunik in March 2006, Armenia
Under-21 coach Petrosyan enjoyed a splendid year,
winning the league title by 16 points and helping a
new generation of locally-born players to find their
feet in domestic competition, having resisted the
temptation to bring in foreign players. "We could not
win every competition, but we won our sixth title and
that was our main target," the 52-year-old told
uefa.com.
‘Main target’
"Pyunik beat all our closest rivals in head-to-head
matches and in the process we managed to give a
run-out to many youngsters who will be playing more
important roles next season." With Petrosyan’s young
national squad winning three of their four UEFA
European U21 Championship qualifying games in 2006,
just missing out on a place in the play-offs, the
coach feels that his policy of supporting young
players at Pyunik is being vindicated, and he has no
intention of changing tack.
Pyunik duty
"Among other things, I think the club has a duty to
provide better players for the national teams," he
said. "If we rely on foreign players then how can we
expect our youngsters to gain skill and experience?
Today’s young players are the spine of tomorrow’s
Armenian national team." The only concern for
Petrosyan is that, in the event that Pyunik’s more
experienced players – the likes of Sargis Hovsepyan,
Rafael Nazaryan and Arsen Avetisyan – are lured
abroad, he would be left to defend the title with a
very young side. "We will have problems if that
happens, but we have talented players, who will become
decent replacements in time," he said.
Foreign rivals
League rivals FC Banants, FC MIKA and FC Ararat
Yerevan have threatened to bring in foreign talent to
crush Pyunik’s youngsters in 2007, but Petrosyan is
unconcerned. "Last season, most clubs had plenty of
foreigners, but we won the league comfortably without
them," he said. "If we don’t win the cup or the title
we will not make a tragedy out of it. Our main task is
to prepare youngsters for the future. We are building
a new team, and if two or three top class players
emerge, that is a result in itself."
©uefa.com