Former Manchester United winger Andrei Kanchelskis says Central Asian players need stronger representation and more attention from clubs.
Former Manchester United winger Andrei Kanchelskis believes Central Asian football remains an underrepresented market.
According to Kanchelskis, players from the region often lack the visibility and professional representation needed to attract attention from clubs abroad.
“Yes, I know this situation from my time working in Central Asia. The market in this region is seriously underdeveloped. To be honest, it needs strong agencies that work closely with local players. There are very few of them — if any. Most of the time, it is smaller agents operating there, but there should be much more information,” Kanchelskis said.
He added that he has personally tried to promote Central Asian football. One of the examples he mentioned was Uzbekistan midfielder Abbos Fayzullaev.
“I also try to promote the Central Asian market myself. For example, Abbos Fayzullaev. I personally recommended him to someone connected with Lokomotiv. That was before the youth World Cup. I said I knew the player. Whether the information reached the club’s management, I don’t know. But we know that CSKA eventually became aware of him,” Kanchelskis said.
The former Manchester United player believes Uzbekistan has players capable of competing at a higher level.
“In Uzbekistan, every club has one or two quality players who could play in the Russian Premier League, for example. But even in Russia, almost nobody follows this market. I think that is a major problem,” he said.
Kanchelskis knows Central Asian football from firsthand experience. He managed Navbahor in Uzbekistan, leading the club to a third-place finish in the Uzbek league. He later held a director role at Kazakhstan’s Tobol and also coached Kyrgyz side Muras United, preparing the team for a season in which it went on to win the Kyrgyzstan Cup.
Fayzullaev is currently part of Uzbekistan’s national team setup. He and his Istanbul Basaksehir teammate Eldor Shomurodov were included in Fabio Cannavaro’s extended squad for the training camp ahead of the World Cup.