Liverpool academy coaches to scout talent in city

English Premier League club Liverpool football academy's coaches will be in the capital on April 19 and 20 to identify promising young talent as part of its tie-up with I-League division 2 club DSK Shivajians of Pune.
Coaches Michael William Rice and Ray Curtis will be in attendance at the Ambedkar Stadium here on the those days.
The shortlisted players will then participate in a final round which will be held in Pune to form the first batch of students to be trained at the academy.
This first edition of multi-city scouting is aimed at short-listing the best players to form two groups of Under-17 (Born on or between 31st May 1998 and 1st June 1999) and Under-19 (Born on or between 31st May 1996 and 1st June 1997) whose skills will be honed at the academy.

DSK Shivajians had tied up with the famous club to start a residential international football academy near Pune, for which a talent hunt programme is on.
A total of 64 boys would be picked for the academy to be situated at Loni, Pune, which would start functioning from June 1.

The trainees who have to pay an annual fees of Rs 3.5 lakh and Rs 4.5 lakh respectively when they join.
"We will give scholarships to ten talented boys each in the two age groups depending on economic criteria while the rest have to pay the fees that will cover their stay and food expenses," DSK Shivajians president had Shirish Kulkarni said.

"The selection would be purely merit-based. The two Liverpool coaches and two other Indian coaches with AIFF or AFC certificates will be attached with the academy," he added.
Kulkarni said 10 hand-picked boys would be sent to Liverpool FC to train there for a week or so.
The academy includes a state-of-the-art gymnasium, swimming pool, games room, lecture theatre and medical facilities.
The academy will also boast of two football pitches, one of which is artificial 4G allowing players to continue their training in extreme weather conditions, while the other is a natural turf.