The S$14 Million Men
Both Grilled Birds and Farmer Bunnies were not afraid of flashing their cash in preparation for the coming campaign, and both happened to complete inbound transfers worth some S$14 million each, this very day.
The Birds would recruit
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud from Zagreb's NK Mousebuster, where he had sounded his discontent following two runners-up finishes in Division Five. Domagoj Burek could hardly be accused of skimping on collecting talent, but it somehow never fully clicked, and the 28 year-old felt that he had to move on to make the most of his prime. Certainly, the S$20.6 million that NK Mousebuster had paid Argentina's El Fortín for him suggested that much had been expected of the forward; he did not completely disappoint, finishing second top-scorer in the league both seasons, but there was no getting over the near-record fee paid.
Abd Hadi had cost El Fortín S$12.7 million from current Al Dawry Al Aam Al Lubnani club Peñarol (CAP) as a 22 year-old brimming with potential, but again, despite his over 100 matches for the Argentines, he would never quite recapture the promise he had showed in Lebanon. His flourishing at Peñarol (CAP) won him his only national cap thus far, in a 4-0 U-20 friendly win over Belarus, in which he had to depart after 38 minutes due to tactical concerns.
For Abd Hadi, there could have been few offers more attractive than to return to Singapore to be part of the reigning national champions, furthermore with the Number Eight shirt once worn by Cao Wai-Kin, Nawaz Talib, Low Aik Jia and most recently Cyril Künzler. "For once, the number should match the role." head coach
Hilal Bakhtiar said. "Hadi's largely been utilized as a striker with NK Mousebuster, but he obviously has much greater range than that."
Bakhtiar continued with what might be the greatest praise available. "Watching him play, he even reminds me a lot of
Chan Ze Han sometimes."
Abd Hadi will link up with the rest of the team on their Supporter Week Trophy quest, with his confirmed signing entirely quashing rumours of Grilled going for les breizh de travo's Riccardo Salviati, or even a cheeky bid for Haha's Simon Mazlov. Some hours after his announcement, the Farmer Bunnies would make a huge signing of their own too, as they brought former El Salvador youth international goalkeeper
Gilberto Sorondo in, from Kazakh H.I. V.192 side Farm For Fame.
Sorondo has endured a rather chaotic few years after winning his first cap with hometown club SRC San Salvador and being declared their Player of the Season, upon which he was swiftly transferred to Spain's C.R. Tuluergo for S$11.1 million. Three more shifts would happen in the space of that season - to another Spanish side in Union Real, then two-time Kazakh Sapphire Challenger Cup winners FC Liverpool_B, and finally to Farm for Fame, an affiliate of Kazakh Premier Liga promotees Zhuz Factor. This understandably didn't serve Sorondo's development particularly well, which might have accounted for his latest fee being a S$2.6 million discount over what Farm for Fame paid.
Still, it was not that Sorondo's stock had dropped all that much, with a host of clubs eager to meet his S$10 million release clause. Like (Kazakh Division Two), Athletic Club Chile (Chilean Division Three) and new hitafabi (Turkish Division Five) were linked early, when it looked as if Italian VI.725 outfit Achillini Warriors were his likely destination. More bids would arrive from Book of Ra (Egyptian Division Three), The GUNNERS96 (Belgian Division Five) and RGA Team (Spanish Division Six), with it however seemingly between Achillini Warriors and Swedish III.57 champions Pub IS. The flush Bunnies would step in with their offer of fourteen million and change about this point, however, which put an abrupt end to the multi-way negotiations.
Buns gaffer
Dalibor Kostadinović could not help but have a smile on - a rare sight in these dark times - as he revealed the coup. "It's almost a steal. Sorondo won 25 U-20 caps for El Salvador despite being bounced around, and I haven't seen much better prospects, in terms of the raw tools. His reflexes and instincts against set pieces are top class, we can work on the rest. Similar talents such as Oman's Samy Abdulbaqy Al-Mazrooy went for around S$23 million, we cannot reasonably expect the price to be much lower."
Sorondo, who will inherit the Number One jersey from Vivian Grubenmann, chose a positive read on moving from one Farm to another. "A sign that I can finally settle down into a routine, I hope!"
Finally, Grilled International might not have their big buy to boast of just yet, but they would declare a neat windfall from the transfer of former youth custodian Juli bin Hj Yussof; the 22 year-old went from French sixth division side ES de la Tour to Swedish III.53 newcomers Männen som aldrig ger upp, for S$17.9 million - which gave International a share of over S$350,000.
Didi Reidenbach claimed to be in no hurry to make purchases, though, probably with the recent financial fiasco in mind. "It's not player quality or squad depth that's keeping us down, frankly." he said.
