National footballer Datsakorn Thonglao, one of the country's best midfielders, decided to leave BEC Tero Sasana Football Club to play for Hoang Anh-Gia Lai in Vietnam.

Unfortunately, this means Thai fans will see far less of Datsakorn, who has been one of the biggest crowd-drawers in the Thailand football league.

Datsakorn - dubbed Thailand's Steven Gerrard - will leave after playing for the national team in the current Asean football championship in Bangkok.

And who can blame him? Datsakorn will receive Bt7.2 million for signing to play for the Vietnamese team for three years - that's a monthly salary of Bt200,000. He might also get a bonus of Bt1 million, as well as additional money based on the number of appearances he makes for the club.

Ironically, even though Thai footballers are deemed to be among the best in Asean, their earnings are lower than those of players elsewhere in the region.

A number of Thai stars have gone off to play in the Singapore league. But over the past few years, the Vietnam football league has emerged as a strong tournament.

In fact, Thai footballers are no strangers to Vietnamese football: Kiatisak Senameung, another star, used to play for Hoang Anh-Gia Lai, and Dusit Chalermsaeng is still playing in Vietnam.

This is not good news for the Thai national team, because these players cannot guarantee they will be able to come back to play for the national side every time duty calls.

But business-wise, the Thai league has hardly developed at all over the years. It has failed to attract fans and good players due to the low payments on offer. Footballers prefer to play for foreign leagues if they can get the commensurate reward for their dedication and years of hard work.

As to the Thai crowds, they should seriously ponder how the Thai football league can raise itself to the level of others in the region. Otherwise stop dreaming about going to the World Cup!

Jeerawat@nationgroup.com