6 Feb 2015

Sport: Wellington Phoenix on the hunt for the next Roy Krisha

3:24 pm on 6 February 2015

The Wellington Phoenix football club are convinced there are more Roy Krishna's floating around the Pacific region.

The Phoenix announced this week they will be touring Fiji as part of their pre-season campaign in June, where their top team will play the Fijian national team side in Suva.

Head coach Ernie Merrick was in Samoa last month scouting players at the Oceania Under 17 Championship and believes there is plenty of undiscovered talent in the Pacific region.

"Very much so and when I was in Australia I worked with the Under 17 [and] Under 20 Australian teams when we were in the Oceania region. I saw then a lot of talent and I see the talent coming through and it's just a shame that they're visa players if they come to the A-League, and maybe the FFA down the track will allow them come to the Phoenix and not be visa players but there's certainly a lot of talent there and I'm sure we will find another Roy Krishna".

The Phoenix academy team will also play against Fiji's Under 23 team during the tour.