“From all accounts the statistics proved that Aurtis Whitley did well in Vietnam unlike the shocking reports,” said Wesely Webb a former Jabloteh and W Connection.
Webb was appointed as the CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh Team Administrator recently and traveled with the team’s World Cup midfielder Aurtis Whitley to Vietnam to pick up a contract offered by Vietnamese Club Hoang Anh Gia Lai in mid March.
However the contract was withheld after the Hoang Anh Gia Lai Coach decided not to include Whitley in his team after his trial with the Club.
However, Webb who had the first hand look at the player’s performance in Vietnam explained to ‘ttproleague.com’, “They had organized a couple of practice matches for Whitley while we were there and he gave a very good account of himself as far as ia am concerned.”
“He played with the reserve team against the Hoang Anh Gia Lai first team in both matches. In the first match they drew 4-4 with Whitley scoring one and setting up three. In the second match Whitley scored one goal setting up another to win the match 4-1,” added Webb.
“To me this was all politics,” exclaimed Webb. “Whitley had a good performance and I was with Whitley all the time to witness his performance and the statistics don’t lie.”
Newspaper reports suggested the Coach of Hoang Anh Gia Lai was not pleased with what he saw from Whitley, “We have created favourable conditions for this player to show his ability but I am disappointed.”
“If we sign a contract with this striker, we will have to take time to train him in many basic skills of a professional player. We would rather invest in local strikers, and some young players from the U-21 national squad,” said the Vietnamese Club Coach.
Whitley returned to Trinidad two weeks ago and is currently in training with his Pro League Club San Juan Jabloteh in preparation of the new season, which kicks off on Saturday.
Webb now believes the World Cup player is about to prove all his detractors wrong, “I can send out a stern warning. This season he really wants to come out to prove himself firstly and then to prove to the public that Aurtis Whitley is not all dished up,” ended Webb.
As a member of TT Pro League Club CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh from 1999 to 2005, Whitley scored 64 goals. During the 2006 World Cup in Germany he played in all three matches for Trinidad and Tobago.