The departed Fan Xiuyu's vacant Number Thirteen jersey did not lie unused for long, as it was claimed by Grilled's new S$3.3 million signing, Swiss wide midfielder Paolo Iten. Iten picked the Birds over Spanish contenders Hansa BCN, and in addition to understudying Erik Back on the right flank, will also permanently take over set-piece duties, returning to Grilled a dimension that they have sorely missed since Domenik Bögengang left.

Previous club Sport Alianza Lima had used Iten only sparingly in their Peruvian Division Three fixtures, despite forking out some S$3.6 million for him from Estonian side Veru Menu. Before that, Iten played in the Netherlands, and spent three months on the books of former Liechtenstein Cup winners Alemannia Schaan.

Iten stated that he was excited and ready to play a big part in the new campaign, and was encouraged by Grilled's good record with Swiss footballers - three Swiss midfielders, Jon Andrea Rottman, Lorenz Paullin and Dani Spirig, have featured heavily in Grilled's most successful period, with Spirig the foreign player with the most ever competitive starts for Grilled, at 248.

The Birds were reported to have examined Spaniard Toribio Valo and Italian Enrico Francesi for the right wing role, but were put off by their excessively high valuations following fierce bidding. At barely over twenty-three years of age, Iten was also considered to have the biggest upside of them all.

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