Manish Italian
Multiply-skilled Chicken Wings academy graduate Manish Kotla joined Italian eighth division club Olympiakos Georgatos on a free transfer today, after considering a tentative offer from II.3 side littlehorse. To some, it might be strange that he picked a recently-formed club over the well-established two-time Challenger Cup winners, but Kotla was prepared to place game time over nearly all else.
"I am under no illusions that I'm anywhere close to starting for littlehorse." the 17 year-old said. "However, with Olympiakos, their head coach Francesco Toniutti has assured me that I can make a contribution immediately. In fact, I am going to feature in midfield later today in their friendly against A.C. Capo."
Grilled Birds assistant coach Abdul bin Jantan felt that Kotla was downplaying himself a little. "Manish has strong basics." he asserted. "He's one of the very few youth players whom I could tell to play anywhere - up front, im the middle, on the wing, in defence - and trust to do adequately. He may not have that outstanding aspect that cause scouts to do a double-take, but in the long run, he has the potential to outshine them."
