Marittima For Sim
Top Chicken Wings midfielder Sim Chu Yao signed on a S$204000 transfer to Italian Division Eight club U.S. Massa Marittima today, as head coach Dominik Butowski seeks to rebuild from the ground up. The 17 year-old, who turned professional on his first day of eligibility, will join fellow teenagers Ángel Andrés Valle Jiménez and Daniel Bařina in Butowski's project.
The news came as something of a disappointment to many of the Wings' followers, who were expecting Sim to make the step up to the senior side, to again link up with
Moey Xin Seng,
Chu Xin Lee and
Kalki Parvathaneni. Assistant coach Abdul bin Jantan took pains to emphasize that Sim's move had nothing to do with his skill, and everything to do about a lack of places.
"Sim is one of the most natural playmakers we've seen come up through the youth ranks in recent seasons. Unfortunately, he simply emerged at a bad time. Grilled do have a history of welcoming our former youth talent back, though, so he could always do a Muthyala or Ramli in the near future - the door's always open!"
Abdul's testament to Sim's ability was backed up by the many offers he received, including from The Ruffnecks (Dutch Division Six), Foxfire Reunited (Danish Division Five), La Disperata (Italian Division Five) and 3 Penne al Sugo (Italian Division Eight), with Sim eventually opting for Marittima as to maximize his playing opportunities.
