Chandan Nayak, an 11-year-old football prodigy from an impoverished area of Bhubaneswar, has been selected to train at Germany's most iconic club Bayern Munich for two months. Chandan, who is hailing from the slum area of the city, is one among the few who were selected for an all-expenses-paid junior football camp to Munich.
"I am very happy, want to become a player for the Indian team one day. I really want to thank my coach," said Chandan, who describes Argentine player Lionel Messi as his inspiration. His coach Jayadev Mahapatra said that Chandan's his family was extremely underprivileged. "His is a broken family. His father had deserted him at a very young age. His mother works as a servant at various places to manage the family. She has sacrificed a lot to ensure that her children are brought up in a proper way.
Explaining the young football genius' journey so far, the coach continued: "The boy is a talented player and we spotted him when he was very young. He has been training with us for the last three to four years. In the last one year, he was given very rigorous training and we used modules which we see in international clubs and it has paid us rich dividends. When he was selected in Odisha, he was the youngest (11). The selection criteria says that the age should be between 14 to 16 and being an 11-year-old kid he was not allowed but we asked them to give him a chance, he surprised everyone.
"The same thing happened when he went to Pune. He surprised everyone, including Sunil Chhetri, who was the head selector for this academy. He will be leaving for Germany on 25th. In Germany, he will be playing asides greats like Phillip Lahm. The best coaches of the world will train him. Around 120 students from across the world will get training there. It is a huge opportunity and it will inspire other slum kids to take football seriously,” Jayadev said.
