Zagorje For Eu
Chicken Wings graduate Eu Pin Choon secured a free transfer to Croatian V.167 outfit Zagorje united99, as Grga Polić's eighth signing in the four days since the official founding of the club. Scouted by Lim Hock Puay from his neighbourhood team, Eu has been described as being able to play almost anywhere on the pitch, though he is best organizing matters in crowded areas with his technique.
Lim had to admit that the 17 year-old Eu's development while in the academy had not been as complete as he had hoped for. "He can always dribble through two or three guys once or twice each game, and you're never very worried when he's called upon, but he also has few clear strengths as yet. That may well come back to bite him in a couple of years, when a big step up is expected."
To be fair, Eu represented a good enough package for both Zagorje and Swiss Division Six strugglers Herten Socceruus II to take a punt on him, and Lim agreed that he retains the potential to improve quickly. "I can't be certain whether he has been as serious as he could have been, but if not, it would be a great time to start."
Head coach
Hilal Bakhtiar affirmed that Eu was a work in progress, if likely a step below what would have been needed to make the current senior squad. Bakhtiar took the opportunity to comment on balancing the club finances, in particular
Douglas Carapaica's relatively-modest wage demands of some S$65,000 a week aiding his case for employment.
"It's something I have been taught to keep a very close eye on, and fortunately we have assembled a group that's by and large more focused on winning titles, than padding their pocketbooks.
Chan Ze Han's on about the same as Douglas despite being our biggest name, and
Teo Chuan Yong's the only one at six figures for now, and even that's almost certainly coming down when his contract gets renewed. This was why we were after Bahrain's Mumtaz Fakhroo too, but then he got snapped up by Zhejiang's hualongdeduizi for S$11 million."
