THE Harbour View Mini-Stadium was abuzz with excitement last Thursday as some of the country’s best Under-21 football talents from Corporate Area clubs Harbour View, Waterhouse, Arnett Gardens and Tivoli Gardens demonstrated their skills in an effort to impress Notodden FK Youth Academy coach Altimont Butler.
Butler and club chairman Per Arne Hanson are here to sign Waterhouse full-back Andrae Campbell and to scout new talent. The 30-minutes games were therefore organised in a round-robin format to have a look at the available talent.
According to Hanson, they have a history of signing Jamaican players and Jamaica is one of their favourite hunting grounds for new talent.
“We’re looking for new players from Jamaica because we’ve had good experiences with Jamaican players… the only thing now is to see if we can find any new players again,” he told the Jamaica Observer.
Hanson says they are on the lookout for a left-back or a striker and were somewhat impressed with Harbour View’s frontman Romaine Lewis, who netted a hat-trick against Waterhouse in the opening game.
However, he said even if they identify someone they like, it would take some time before anything happens.
“We (Norwegian transfer window) don’t open until the first of August in Norway, so we have time… but we have contacts here that are following players, so we’re updated all the time,” he said.
“However, we will not be doing anything at the moment, because we are seeing a lot of players, so we will be doing our selection closer to when the (transfer) window opens,” he added
Meanwhile, former Reggae Boy Butler says regardless of the position, once they spot a player with exceptional ability he will get a chance to go to Notodden.
“We’re basically looking for somebody who can blow us out of the water… we’re not really looking at anyone special, just that player that will blow us away, be it a goalkeeper, defender, midfielder or striker,” he said.