By Jacob Ajom

Dutch football coach and former Heartland FC of Owerri gaffer, Lodewijk de Kruif is in the country to scout for players.

He landed in Lagos Monday night for a two-day talent hunt program.

The coach who led the Owerri outfit to FA Cup back to back wins in 2011 and 2012 has been quietly working behind the scene in Africa on a talent hunt mission and carrying out coaching clinics and seminars for indigenous coaches.

Kruif has been to Ghana and Benin Republic where he has discovered quite a number of talents who are in different Academies, age grade teams and clubs of various clubs in Europe.

This isn’t Kruif’s first visit to Nigeria after leaving Heartland FC years ago. He has been a regular caller with his Spanish partner, Rene Koster. Together they have helped African players to succeed in Europe.

Kruif is in town on the bills of Chymastiq Stars FC Academy own by entrepreneur and football enthusiast, Uche Chima Victor who is one of the champions of grassroots sports development in Lagos.

Uche Chima has organized different sporting competitions and tournaments in Lagos. He decided to expand his scope this time by bringing in Kruif and Rene Koster to scout for talents in a two-day tournament in the Lekki axis of Lagos.

“We are growing and expanding,” behind the soft spoken businessman.

“We are not just about football but we want to test the waters with our football team. We do things differently with result in our mind.

“The record of Kruif and Rene Koster in the area of scouting for African players and guiding them to succeed is excellent. This is the reason we are partnering with them.

“It’s going to be a continuous exercise. We are only kick-starting with this. We hope to make the next edition a sort of carnival to attract the very best of the best.

“Nigeria is blessed with talents. We hope to use this platform to discover more Osimhens and Lookmans.”