Hu It Is
Farmer Bunnies would declare their ambitions with a splash, as they smashed their transfer record for the second time in weeks, laying out a cool S$15 million for Joker 9's
Morgan Hu.
Hu, just turned 28, moved to the sadly now-defunct Tanglin Mugs immediately after coming through Joker 9's youth system, and spent eight fruitful seasons there - including a national youth call-up - before striking out with Romanian club METALUL SIGHISOARA in a near S$13 million deal, where he would mostly partner then-captain Karlo Lemoine in an expansive system.
That lasted for about a season and a half before he made a much-publicised return to his first club, arriving about the same time as former Grilled midfielder Lee Lee Hao and Chinese winger Luo Haixiang, as former national star and player-coach Narayan Naik plotted an S-League return. This has unfortunately not as of yet come to fruition, and with Joker 9 supposedly eyeing Inteligenta Caracal's Tan Tong Leong among other striking prospects, a transfer out for the unsettled Hu was the obvious thing to do.
Buns head coach
Sikong Darong, himself a Joka Juniors FC alumni, described Morgan as one of the few pieces that remained, for the Buns to make a realistic assault on some national-level silverware.
"I'll come straight, it was a pretty penny to pay, but one can't count the cents at this level." Sikong said. "Benson is one type of midfielder, we've got all kinds of great defenders, and Hu really bridges the gap between them. Also, he's very, very fast, which is so important in the modern game whereever you are."
This good news was accompanied by the announcement that Hu, together with Buns wingbacks
Tham Leng Teck and
Kwek Yun Jie, had been officially called up to the national squad, and may gain their first international caps as soon as against Switzerland this Friday. It was all almost too much for Buns supporters to take at once.
"I was, like, are you kidding me?" a bubbly Alicia Lee, who had been introduced to the game by her older brothers, said.
In other news, Grilled International sold 17 year-old goalkeeper Woon Tse to Italian eighth division club A.C. Zanarkand for a token fee of S$8000, after interest from F.C.Napoli Calcio (Romanian Division Six) and Paramount Pakciks (Malaysian Division Three) petered out.
A self-professed sweeper-keeper, the influence that Bunnies custodian
Vivian Grubenmann - whom Woon had once worked with for a week on an exchange visit - had on him, was clear for all to see.
