Meyer And Wong Waived
The dispersal of Grilled's veterans continued, with midfield players
Clément Meyer and
Wong Ping Shun the next ones to leave the club. Both instrumental pieces of the Birds' multiple successful cup campaigns, it was however also sadly apparent that age was catching up with them.
For attacking midfielder Meyer, 33, it was however already much more than he had expected, after repeatedly getting rejected from youth academies in his native France. Arguably peaking in importance in his latter seasons with Grilled, Meyer was honoured as the club's Player of the Season just two years ago; he will wear the Number Twenty-Seven with Italian Division Four club vergnacchi sgarrupati f.c., who agreed terms on a S$2.5 million fee.
As for
Wong Ping Shun, 34, he defined himself immediately upon joining from Romanian club M.L&G, and his muscular wing play was a key factor in Grilled's historic third Singapore Cup win. Further establishing himself as Grilled's primary set-piece taker, Wong would reap a respectable return of 62 goals from 158 appearances. He will move to Turkish Division Four side Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart, for a round S$2 million.
Grilled head coach
Djan Bacelar pronounced the transfers as beneficial for all concerned. "Rather than get played out of position, they will have the opportunity to make a real difference for their new clubs. They have been exemplary professionals in their time here, and Grilled Birds wishes them every success for the next phase of their careers."
There could well be another following in their footsteps soon, as Bacelar hinted later on, after being asked about
Wong Tian Han's condition. "He's recuperating well, but the doctors don't think he should be coming out against Earthquakes this weekend. We are looking into bringing in a solid backup, and then... we'll see how it goes."