Oliech: Olunga Qatar move was a mistake
Former Kenyan forward Dennis Oliech believes his successor Michael Olunga blundered by moving to the Middle East.
Oliech is considered one of the best talents to ever come out of Kenya.
Now 34, he enjoyed stints in Qatar, France, UAE, and Kenya with impressive returns, while also turning out for Kenya at the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia.
Olunga too has enjoyed stints in Spain’s top-flight at Girona, China, Sweden, before moving to Japan and now in Qatar.
“Olunga is in his prime. He should have remained in Europe,” explained Oliech in an interview on Jalang’o TV.
“He was in Spain. He should have remained there. Coming to Asia and he is less than 27 means it will be hard for him to go back to Europe and play at the highest level. Besides, Asia is not as professional as Europe is. In Europe, when teams don’t perform, it is the coach that is sacked. In Asia, the players are dropped.”
Oliech also confessed he made a mistake similar to that of Olunga during his playing days.
“I was playing in at Ajaccio (in France) and moved to Dubai. I should have moved to the second division in France. But I went to Dubai. After a year I tried to go back to France and it was not easy. Olunga is scoring a lot f goals in Japan and Qatar because those competitions are not as competitive.”
The outspoken Oliech also explains that times were tough when he initially joined Qatar’s Al Arabi and he had to wait for three months before making his debut as the side had already filled the foreign quota.