When the Azkals Development Team came together for the 2020 PFL Season presented by Qatar Airways, it had one goal — build the future.
And not just for the national team, but for its players as well.
And for Jarvey Gayoso and Mar Diano, they were able to find more than one prospective club that wants to sign them.
“He won’t tell you this now, but at the end of the season, I got two or three teams in Thailand wanting to sign Jarvey Gayoso, wanting to sign Diano,” bared ADT head coach Scott Cooper during the season finale of The Crossover Inside The PFL Bubble.
Behind the youth of the ADT, the youth team was able to turn doubters into believers, finishing third in the recently-concluded bubble season.
Diano, a standout from UE, was part of ADT’s backline.
On the other hand, the 23-year-old Gayoso himself had a spectacular campaign. He tallied four goals, tied for fourth in the league with United City’s OJ Porteria. He also had two assists to his name.
Many questioned Cooper’s decision to turn the lanky, 6-foot-1 striker Gayoso into a defender during the start of the season.
The England Youth Team coach Cooper did not listen to the noise, though, knowing that the Atenean had full trust in him and the process.
“Jarvey is talented, athletic — he’s got goals in him. What’s his best position? I loved reading that,” said the 50-year-old Englishman.
“When I met Jarvey, a lot of people told Jarvey exactly what he wants. And that’s not always what’s in the best interest of a football player. So for me, I felt like Jarvey — a great kid, a great attitude, great talent — but I felt there were too many people telling him all the things they thought he should hear, as opposed to what he needed to hear. And maybe those people didn’t really know what he needed to hear because they weren’t aware themselves.
“It was just a matter to segue from that college setup and mindset into a professional level, and showing him what the gap is and where he needs to get to,” he continued.
With the offers that Gayoso and Diano received, Cooper feels vindicated that his program is starting to bear fruit.
And so he hopes that this will lead to more players embracing and joining the ADT program.
“Would he have got there without the talks with me? Honestly, no. I’m sure he wouldn’t have. He’s in a really good place where his skills and his football is being improved; has quite a lot more skills; and now is being noticed by notable teams abroad that are interested in him,” shared Cooper.
“The goal of the ADT is to make bright decisions for the player to move them on, so we can bring the next one and we can keep producing like that.”
