Nobby Solano has opened up his own Academy in Peru - and would love to find the next Little Maestro for Newcastle United.
Little Maestro was the nickname handed to a young Solano at Boca Juniors by Diego Maradona no less, but now, after seven years of coaching with the Peru national team behind him, the ex-Newcastle star has started the search for new blood in his home country. Solano has been holding sessions with kids in Lima and says he will pass on any exciting discoveries to United.
Solano told Chronicle Live: "After working with the national team at the World Cup and Copa America, I made a decision to start my own Academy. "I enjoy working with youngsters and helping develop talent. There is a lot of hidden talent in Peru but they need to help to be discovered. That is my aim.
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"I'd love to find kids who go on to play professionally or get the chance like I did to play in Europe, and why not Newcastle at St James' Park? Not everybody can get through of course. But my philosophy is to teach kids to train and work on their game.
"We have to get away from technology all of the time. Kids should be active and healthy, not just sitting on PlayStations or the iPad or the mobile phone all the team. For us as youngsters, it was all about running around and getting exercise.
"One of my big aims was to get kids to my Academy after school. You don't want them going straight from school and straight on to the PlayStation. Too much screen time is bad for you."
Solano arrived at Newcastle in 1998 after shining in Peru for Sporting Cristal before making the move to Boca where he played with Maradona. The £2.5million spent on Solano was one of the best pieces of business ever done by Newcastle as he went on to become a legend, helping the club to play Champions League football and reach the FA Cup final.
But what price the discovery of another Solano? Nobby reflected: "Look we have talent here - there's no doubt. What we don't have is the platform to show it.
"At clubs like Newcastle, Aston Villa, West Ham who I played for, even Hartlepool, they have good training grounds. We don't have it here in Peru and clubs struggle to even have training fields.
"The players here have learned their skills on the streets or playing on artificial grass. They also don't get the same type of coaching in youth teams - coaches who can teach them to play the game and have a career.
"We try to do better with that. And I will continue to do it until I return to either coaching or management."
Solano is still big pals with Newcastle's Academy loan chief Shola Ameobi with the duo playing together on the big stage in the Champions League under Sir Bobby Robson.
Solano said: "I'd love to get some new talent to Newcastle from South America. United have not produced too many young players in the past few years other than Sean Longstaff and Elliot Anderson.
"It's no good getting players through who only play a few games then move. You want consistency and players who can stay on board for many years and play plenty of games.
"Arsenal are a great example they produce many players to get through to the first-team. They also have a big presence in South America because of director of football Edu.
"It would be good for Newcastle to look around South America where good players have traditionally cropped up from."
Solano has been impressed with Newcastle's new owners' vision with Dan Ashworth coming in this summer to restructure the Academy and the club in general. Co-owners Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi opened up the doors to former players after the takeover.
Solano says he has also been invited to St James' Park the next time he is in the UK. Solano said: "The new owners invited me. I was pleased to hear from the club again.
"I hope to come to St James' Park in the future. On my next visit I look forward to seeing them and taking in a game."
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