Tam Cheong Yan
info@sleague.com
SAFFC and Gombak United appear unlikely to make late additions to their thin senior squads – despite the impending closure of the S.League’s transfer window.
The two teams currently sit atop the Great Eastern-YEO’S S.League table, with SAFFC on 12 points and the Bulls on 10 after four games played.
While their achievements may not appear out of the ordinary, it is remarkable that both clubs have the smallest senior squads in the S.League this season, at 16 players each.
League regulations state that the minimum number of players each club may register is 15.
With the current transfer window set to close this Friday, 20 March, at noon, both sides have very little time left to sign any players they may want to bolster their squads before the second transfer window opens in late June.
Yet SAFFC appear totally disinterested in making rushed moves to recruit anybody, having brought in Park Tae Won and Guntur Djafril in pre-season while releasing four players from their senior roster.
A severe back injury to versatile defender Faizal Aziz means the Warriors are one further man down – for the first half of the season at least – from the 19-man squad that won the S.League and RHB Singapore Cup double.
Far from moving to replenish the numbers, it will instead be a case of gritting their teeth and getting on with it, as far as Richard Bok is concerned.
“Who’s there we can sign? There are no more players available!” laughed the 39-year-old when approached by sleague.com on Saturday.
“It’s a thin market out there. So we’ve got to just live with it while we try to pursue all fronts on the field.
“I do hope to bring in some players from our Prime League team. We’re already using Zulfadli (Zainal Abidin), and there are a few other Prime League boys who have trained with the senior team in pre-season, like Farhan (Pauzan) and Abdil (Qaiyyim Mutalib).”
Bok added that the club’s hands are also tied by budget limitations, a point he highlighted by comparing the Warriors to Shanghai Shenhua, their recent opponents in the AFC Champions League.
The Chinese side had splashed the cash to bring in star names such as Belarus international Vyacheslav Hleb, who moved for a transfer fee of S$3.8million.
“We are not Shanghai Shenhua; they can just throw S$3.8million to sign a player,” noted Bok.
“Never mind that the player only played for 18 minutes against us. That kind of money is enough to run our club for two years!
“With our budget, we can’t have a big squad, so we just make do with a smaller one. But to me, it’s not as if our squad size has dropped so badly.”
Gombak coach Darren Stewart meanwhile acknowledged that the small pool of players he has is a concern, while hinting that the club is mulling making just one last-minute signing.
“Yeah, having a thin squad doesn’t help our ambitions a little bit, but that’s the way it is,” said the Australian.
“I’m happy with the players I’ve got here, since we kept most of the boys from last year. And I may have a surprise for everyone in our next game on Thursday.”
While Stewart appeared unwilling to give too much away, the Jurong West-based club is understood to be interested in getting backup for their three-man strikeforce of Agu Casmir, Emmanuel Emuejeraye and Ojimi Gabriel Obatola.
One player under consideration is former Young Lions man Norfahazly Kamsan, who had featured for the Bulls in 2006 and 2007 and has been training with the club after sitting out of the league for one year.
Singapore international Fazrul Nawaz, who was released by Geylang United at the end of last season, is another possibility, although he has yet to fully recover from a cruciate ligament injury and looks unlikely to pass the mandatory Beep Test in time to register.
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