Belhocine In
There would be three players moving for Grilled Birds today, with the departures of senior defenders
Johann Schwietzer and
Leongīns Luško coinciding with the recruitment of their replacement, the 28 year-old former Algerian youth international
Houssam Belhocine. Curaçao II.1 club Panteras Barber stood firm on their S$8 million demand for Belhocine, who had spent the last three seasons with them, which
Dan Alstani would eventually agree to after confirming incoming offers for Schwietzer and Luško.
Alstani's recent interest in former Birds trainee Zainul Abidin Mohd Ehsan had been widely reported in the press, but the 29 year-old would be signed by English Premier side Ville Warriors for S$8.7 million from Irish third divisioners Grow A Pear FC, a move that the Birds head coach did not want to stand in the way of. "Ville are four-time Premier champions and two-time FA Cup winners." he contended. "Zainul will be raising Singapore's profile with them."
This is not to say that Belhocine is second-choice, as Alstani then took pains to emphasize. "It takes a special sort of player to sample Germany, France, Canada and Austria all before turning twenty-one, but Houssam has shown that he can stick with a club too, having clocked five years with Cardinals AC 2 before joining Panteras Barber. Not to put Schwietzer and Luško down, but their pace has been a concern, while this should not be the case for Belhocine for some years yet."
Belhocine is, of course, the younger brother of 36 year-old former national striker Walid Belhocine, who has remained a one-club man with their hometown club SC Goat, winning two Division Une titles and a host of Challenger Cups with them - including a Trophée Rubis a few years back. Houssam had never hidden his wish to earn national caps too, and Alstani has pledged to give all the support he needs.
The newcomer will switch from his previous Number Ten to Schwietzer's Number Four, as the 34 year-old departed for Portuguese VI.278 side Lanterna-Vermelha for S$2.8 million. This means that the Birds are over four million in the red after signing him for close to seven million from Arash Resaneh slightly more than a year ago, which Alstani admitted was not the best bit of business. "Johann has been a true professional whenever he took to the field for us, and we wish him well."
There were no particular expectations of a long tenure for
Leongīns Luško in contrast, with the 36 year-old understanding that he was an emergency signing. This did earn him a Ruby Challenger Cup after just three appearances, which meant that he could hardly be said to have been shortchanged for his time. His new club will be Thai III.1 competitors Lord Nelsons legendäre Truppe, and Luško is by all accounts looking forward to being based in Phuket.
Grilled Birds would have one more transfer to note, with 38 year-old former Chicken Wings goalkeeper Husam Abdul Syukur being placed on the transfer list by Italian Division Four side AC Buspirone, who had bought him from Ambush F.C. for nearly S$13 million over eight seasons back. Syukur had served seven years with the Clementi club before that, after they laid out a whopping S$21.6 million to bring him home from Switzerland's Mimis Proleten, now refounded as Elatior Thun.
"Husam has been very helpful to our treasury all along." former academy buddy
Toma Tamiya joked. "But seriously, he's had the club in his heart all this while."
