Liderhan Leaves
In an unanticipated development, Farmer Bunnies announced that they had let 35 year-old striker
Liderhan Kadyr join up with Brazilian Division Five club Spartacus., for a sum of just over S$2 million. The former Kazakh youth international thus concludes his Buns career with 32 appearances, thirteen of them as a sub, and just nine goals over the bulk of three seasons.
That was by any measure a disappointing return for Kadyr, who had garnered Golden Boots in Italy as well as his native Kazakhstan; the frustration over making just four appearances last season with
Sikong Darong favouring
Abderahim Bentellis as
Enzo Paolo Panzarino's main partner had finally come to a head. A direct confrontation with the Buns head coach resulted in Kadyr being allowed to hand in a transfer request, which attracted both Spartacus. and Cafe Viena of Honduras.
With Kadyr being less than shy at voicing his discontent with his perceived mistreatment to the international press, Sikong saw no reason to hold back either. "We're after players who will give their all, first and foremost, and Liderhan wasn't one of those last season." he attacked cuttingly. "As such, I thought it best that we part ways."
Although pundits quickly linked Farmer Bunnies with such names as Italy's Gian Luigi Desiderio, Welsh schemer Michael Balcombe and even former Egyptian U-20 key man Amir El Nabawy, Sikong would only say that they were in no great hurry to procure a replacement.
"We are going to cope just fine with two main forwards, trust me on this. There's no reason why we can't wait for value in the market to present itself."
In happier news,
Chan Ze Han again captained the national youth side on Friday night, this time to a 3-0 win over Liechtenstein. The match was however choppy and frankly slightly amateurish, and Chan would be continually denied by birthday boy Jonathan Hoop in the Liechtenstein goal. It would be left to winger Jagmohan Patel, the on-form Quincy Ton and supersub Kolten Yuen to find the onion bag.
There would be a fiasco for the senior Lions, as it turned out that they had not completed the formalities for a home friendly against Nicaragua, which left the visitors - and fans - high and dry. Clearly, the local footballing body is not amused, and investigations are reported to be underway.
