Well-liked Buns youngster Demitri Liu raised some discontent amongst the support, who thought that the soon-to-be 22 year-old would be spared the exodus that had seen essentially all of the old defensive guard flogged off. Liu would not be an exception, as it turned out, as it was announced that he had been sold to Polish VI.564 club Shama Da Lat, for S$5.1 million.

"It's a crying shame." staunch fan Lelia Chan fumed. "Not like Demitri was that much older than the so-called platinum generation. He could have helped mentor them, surely?"

Buns head coach Vishnu Tallapaka would be more ruthless in his assessment, which was that Liu had not progressed as much as the coaching staff would have liked. "Frankly, it's not obvious if he should be in the starting lineup by merit, despite being nearly two years older than everyone. We hope this will serve as a wake-up call of sorts, and if he finds himself again, we are not counting a return out."

To his credit, Liu did draw a firm offer from New Zealand fourth division side Karate Masters soon after his availability was made known, with their Italian boss Manuele Passarin needling him as competition - and a possible replacement for - Chilean wingback Gerardo Del Transito Dalgalarrando. Shama Da Lat were the more persistent in their pursuit, though, and Liu will thus serve under Dumitru Creţu instead.

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