Kwesi Mugisa, Staff Reporter

GEORGETOWN, Guyana:

Jamaican-born and former Liverpool great John Barnes believes players in the Caribbean have the talent to be good as any, but need to work almost twice as hard based on the fact that they are from a region still relatively unknown in the sport.

"When a player goes to England or anywhere from Brazil, there is a certain respect that they will get because they are from Brazil that you won't get coming from the Caribbean." Barnes told The Gleaner on Saturday at the Pegasus hotel in Guyana after the launch of the Digicel Kick Start Clinics.

"When I went to the England in the '70s, people would say to me 'are you here to play cricket' because that is what the region was noted for," he added.

Of course, he was signed to Watford for a set of the team's kit in 1981, and the rest, as they say, is history. Barnes went on to make some 314 appearances for English League powerhouse team Liverpool and earned 79 caps for England.

Six-week camp

Currently, the head of a six-week camp for corporate cellphone provider Digicel, Barnes will conduct clinics, which will see players from across the region at the Under-20 level showcase their talent, the ultimate objective being to earn a one-week stint at English Premiership team Sunderland.

While making no promises that there will be any signings resulting from the tryout, Barnes, who attended St. George's College where he played in the schoolboy Colts competition at age 12, a fact of which he is still proud, believes that the players who make the cut will be surprised at what they find.

"They will be shocked to know that technically they are just as good as many of the people they will compete against and that should at least give them confidence going forward even if they are not selected," he said.

In fact, Barnes credits having played football in Jamaica in his formative years with developing most of his talent.

Rugby school

"I would say about 90 per cent of it is from here. When I went to England, I went to a rugby school, there wasn't any great amount of development or coaching there," he noted.

"So it was tough for me to play coming from the Caribbean, any of the professional players I'm sure, even these days, will tell you. However, you just need to have the right attitude to the game, focus and discipline. You have to be determined to succeed.

"Right now, the players that are taking part in the Premier League, players like Ricardo Fuller, Ricardo Gardner, are really talented. However, they would be a lot more recognised if they were from a world footballing power. You have to have a lot of respect for what players like that have been able to achieve."

In his estimation with what he believes to be saturation faced in the African market, the Caribbean could be the new hunting ground.

"In England now, there is a feeling that Africa is saturated, this is where we could get the next talent coming out to hopefully grace the Premier League.

"They were able to showcase their players a couple of years ago, now they are reaping the benefits of that, hopefully the Caribbean will be able to do the same."