Moving to Georgia was right decision-Marcelo

Eric ‘Marcelo’ Ouma in action in a past KPL match.PHOTO/Gor Mahia

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 24- Former Gor Mahia left back Erick ‘Marcelo’ Ouma insists he made the right decision to leave the club for Georgian outfit Kolkheti Poti.

A section of Gor Mahia fans and head coach Jose Marcelo Ferreira ‘Ze Maria’ do not think the 20-year-old Kakamega High School alumni made the right pick moving to East Europe but Ouma insists in a matter of time he will prove his doubters wrong.

“Those are their opinions and as far as I am concerned, they do not define my present and future. This was the right decision I made. It does not matter where you start. The destination is the most important thing. It is better to start down going up than the other way round,” Ouma told Capital Sport from his base in Georgia.

His former coach ‘Ze Maria’ was amused with the decision but said the club would move on even without the defender.

“I can’t understand this because it is not a good country to play football but it is his decision and we can’t change. Now we have to think about the players we have,” the coach said.

Ouma, who broke into the Gor Mahia and Harambee Stars starting lineup as a rookie just fresh from high school, has vowed to scale even higher heights and he believes the challenge he finds at Kolkheti will offer him a favourable atmosphere to improve as a player.

“I really want to thank Gor because they contributed a lot to making me who I am today. They gave me an opportunity despite the fact that I was young and I hadn’t played in the Premier League before. They will forever remain in my heart,” Ouma offered.

“This is a big opportunity and a stronger challenge for me but it is exactly what I wanted. It is a step ahead and not a comfort zone. I will have to put in extra hard to ensure I play week in week out,” he added.

Ouma and former Tusker FC winger Luis Misiko have been hard at work trying to gel in with their new teammates having arrived in the city of Poti, located West of Georgia late last week.

“They are good people and we have been welcomed very well. The weather is a bit harsh because it is winter, but we are coping. We are also trying to learn the language and the culture here. I know it won’t take a long time before we get into the system.”

The team will head to Turkey for pre-season before the start of the league. Kolkheti finished fourth in the seven-team Umaglesi Liga, evading the relegation play offs by a point.

Ouma hopes his influence in the team this season will make them better as they seek to depose Samtredia as champions. The youngster hopes he can put up enough hard work as he looks on to move to bigger teams in the top European leagues.

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