It transpired that Grilled had one last surprise in store for the coming season, as club legend Maikel Rotteveel quietly left for Andorran Division Three side Orabidoo Vox on a S$1.53 million transfer, over a similar bid by Italian Division Seven club Zar Crew.

The deal shocked many Grilled fans, who had been eagerly anticipating Rotteveel getting the six goals needed to overhaul Ola Martinsson as Grilled's all-time top scorer. "He was so close!" disappointed supporter Audrey Lo, a sales manager, said. "Couldn't he have stayed awhile more?"

As it turned out, the answer was no, with the Dutchman himself accepting that his time was mostly up. Rotteveel turns 36 in a couple of weeks, and while he made 16 starts for the last campaign, he was pulled off halfway in many of those matches.

"I've been slowing down a little of late, and while I might have a few more seasons of football in me, it won't be at the level I would have hoped." Rotteveel commented. "It's been a great ten seasons at Grilled, even if we didn't win any of the big ones."

The three-time Grilled Player of the Season and four-time league top-scorer leaves with 214 competitive goals from 196 appearances, second only to the storied Martinsson, but with the records for league goals and hattricks, as well as two ten-match scoring streaks.

Senior forward Domenik Bögengang paid tribute to his former partner, and acknowledged that he will be expected to step up, both in terms of raw goal output and leadership. "Rotteveel's not just a scary striker, he's a nice bloke off the pitch." Bögengang praised. "Come to think of it, he was kind of hinting at this move, as he kept telling me to practise more free-kicks as I would soon be taking them."

U-20 star Mohd Safri similarly had only good things to say. "Maikel was one of my best mentors at the club." Safri noted. "I learnt a lot by watching him, and one day I hope to become as good as he was."

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