BANGKOK, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Coach of Manchester City football club Sven-Goran Eriksson signed three Thai young players to the English Premiership League team at a ceremony in Bangkok Friday morning.
The three Thai players, 25-year-old Suree Sukha, Teerasil Dangda, 19, and Kiatprawut Saiwaew, 21, signed the contracts at the ceremony, which made them the first professional Thai players to join an English Premiership football club.
The move to recruit three Thais are also part of the newly-adopted strategy of the club's new boss Thaksin Shinawatra, the ousted Thai prime minister who now lived in London, which is to engage more talented Asian, including Thai players with the team.
The club is aiming to develop into a more global brand, as stated in a video message delivered by Thaksin.
Thaksin took over the English Premier side this July in a 61-million-pound deal to become the club's new chairman, and appointed Swedish Ericsson, the former England manager, as the new Manchester City manager.
Also present at Friday's press conference are Sun Jihai, the first Chinese footballer to join Manchester City and has served the term for more than five years, and Pantongtae Shinawatra, the son of Thaksin, acting on his father's behalf to witness the signing.
Eriksson and Sun has just finished a trip to Shanghai, China to develop a cooperation relationship with the Shanghai Shenhua football club, one of China's top teams. Three Chinese players have been engaged for trials with the team later in the year.
Asked about the potentials of the Thai players, Ericsson said it was up to the three to show to him.
Thaksin also plans to set up a Manchester City football academy in Thailand, which is aimed as a training center for Thai youth footballers, and also other youngsters from the Southeast Asia region, in accordance with international standards.
Jim Cassell, manager of the Manchester City Academy in Britain, has been assigned to be responsible for the project of setting up the Thai version of the Academy.
