Sala Lah
Today saw the return of 22 year-old former Chicken Wings trainee
Mohammad Ramli Saliman, whom the club had been following with added interest after his move to AS CESANO TOWN. To Grilled's good fortune, CESANO's Turkish head coach Necdet Kuvvetlioğlu saw Saliman as surplus to requirements despite starting him in midfield for most of the campaign, and agreed to offload him for S$2.4 million.
This represented a S$1.2 million discount from what CESANO had paid at the beginning of the season, which Bacelar held as wonderful value. "If we had bought him then, it would probably have been in our interest to loan him back, anyway."
Saliman would likely have few complaints, given how he has thrived overseas; after a couple of foundational years at Italian Fourth Division side KaosLords, Saliman moved to former Ecuadorian national champions Fuler, where he experienced a title run in the Campeonato Ecuatoriano, with Fuler coming just short on goal difference, while getting called up to the Singapore U-20 squad.
He would recount his national U-20 adventures as the highlight of his career so far - the debut in a 7-1 walloping of Mongolia, before lobbing Francisco Cana with a last-minute gamewinner in the unforgettable 5-4 group stage victory over mighty Spain, as the Young Lions qualified from Group 9 at their expense. Sadly, Saliman would not feature again as the team got wiped in the next round, to his great regret.
Bacelar revealed that Saliman's sudden availability would affect his plans somewhat, but hastened to add that he was more than happy to adjust. "His is the calibre that we're always happy to take. As it stands, we now have all but enough young talent stocked up, to begin rebuilding in earnest."
Others certainly recognized the potential and value Saliman represented, with Swedish third division side Team Ante hottest in pursuit. Before that, various media sources named Real Leocai (Argentine Division Six), Rujan (Serbian Division Five), Geilen Macker (German Division Eight), BoomBoomBoom (Israeli Division Five), ZaLaSeWo WiEś (Polish Division Six), KOMBAT KLUB PORTUGAL (Portuguese Division Six), TroppoForte (Italian Division Eight), SNAILS (Italian Division Eight), Divite Kozli (Bulgarian Division Four), Orły Emira (Polish Division Six) and FeNeRBaHÇe_SK_ (Turkish Division Five) as possible destinations.
Saliman himself was just delighted to be back, and is raring to link up with fellow academy graduates
Hariharan Prabhu and
Neeraj Muthyala. "There's nowhere like home, in the end!"
