KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 15 — National football legend Khalid Ali has questioned the decision by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) and National Sports Council (NSC) to develop young talent through the formation of the FAM-NSC Project Squad, saying it is not feasible.

As an observer of local football, former national and Selangor player Khalid said the formation of the FAM-NSC Project Squad was also not comprehensive as it only involved a small number of players.

He claimed that the administrative and coaching structure of the team was also filled with unqualified individuals, who neither possessed knowledge nor extensive experience in football development.

“When it comes to talent development, FAM need to gather people who are capable of running a good and efficient administration. When talking about development, there should also be someone who specialises in the technical part of the programme.

“I’m sorry to say this but FAM have appointed individuals who do not have a proven track record in their haste to create the development programme. In my opinion, (Yusri Che Lah) is not qualified (as head coach) because even at the club level, he was a failure. So, where is the direction for this project squad?,” he told Bernama today.

He also expects the participation of the FAM-NSC Project Squad in the Premier League next season to go south.

Khalid, one of the key players in the success of the national squad in the 1980 Moscow Olympics qualifiers, said the decision to allow players as young as 18 to play in the professional and highly-intense arena clearly contradicted the concept of young talent development.

“FAM wants to develop the potential of this team by putting them in the Premier League, which is a professional tournament. Is this a good move? It’s like you are killing their career prematurely. I am a former player. In my experience, competing with more experienced players made me so nervous that my confidence-level dropped 30 per cent.

“In the process of developing young talent in the best way possible, players must be given the chance to go through certain phases and levels. We must remember that not all players are able to go to a higher level in an instant. In this case, players at level one (for example) are being thrown into level 10 (playing in the Premier League),” he explained.

The FAM-NSC Project Squad is an initiative to create a career path for the National Football Development Programme (NFDP) products, including graduates of the Mokhtar Dahari Academy (AMD), in helping the country’s young players to make the transition to the senior and professional stages.

For a start, a total of 30 trainees from AMD, Youth Cup and President’s Cup products as well as Malaysian and State Sports Schools and District Training Centres (PLD) under NFDP will form the pioneer squad starting January.

Khalid said one of the best proposals to develop local talent is to make the Premier League competition 100 per cent for local players only, adding that the move can unearth more local talents in crucial positions.

“As long as we continue to give opportunities to import players to play in the Premier League, we will find it difficult to find talented players, especially in the position of striker and defender. In addition, FAM can also consider creating more professional leagues,” he said. — Bernama