Armenia: Overlooked and undervalued? Or a step too far for UK recruitment?

Our intrepid reporter Joshua Young infiltrates another UEFA backwater and finds some treasure

Andy Watson: Why scout Armenia if you are a UK club?

It is clearly a much lower level league than the Premier League, and even the Championship, but it is also a landing league for many of the world’s more global leagues to get into Europe (even if Armenia is almost as Asian as it is European).

The only transfer in my database of a player coming to England from Armenia is Kwasi Sibo. It may come as no surprise that it was Watford who conducted this transfer back in 2018. Sibo was only 20, had gone to Banants in Armenia directly from Ghana and was picked up by the Hertfordshire club after one year in Armenia.

To be fair to all involved, Sibo is now a full Ghana international and is playing in La Liga with Real Oviedo, so the talent ID was en pointe, but he never played a minute for Watford.

So there is no track record yet between these leagues, with the only Armenian to ever play in England remains Henrik Mkhitaryan, but transfers from Armenia CAN be done, but SHOULD they be done?

Joshua will pick up from here…