Balde Ambition
Grilled Birds made their first signing since
Egemen Dinçer Ferzan over one and a half seasons ago, as they recruited 21 year-old Senegalese midfielder
Ibnou Balde from just-relegated Hungarian VI.191 club Heroes SK. The S$4.27 million fee would be a discount from the S$4.5 million that Heroes SK had paid Dutch outfit V.V. Heerlen earlier in the season, which Birds head coach
Tian Yonghang felt did not reflect any loss in ability on Balde's part.
"It's more of Heroes urgently wanting to cut their wage bill." Tian explained, noting that they had also just divested themselves of former Maldives youth international Padmesh Magotra for over S$9.6 million, as well as young San Marino starlet Roberto Menghi for some S$6.1 million. "Balde is a solid option across the entire midfield line, and I think we can do a lot with him - he surely hasn't hit his ceiling yet."
A return to Senegal with two-time Consolante winners, The Crazy Monkeys of II.4, loomed, but the former MTA forever trainee would also stay in negotiations with Lithuanian V.3 side Sokras, having no particular interest in returning home so early in his career. Slovakian fifth divisioners FK Veterná then appeared to have gazumped both, when Grilled Birds stepped in.
A move to Singapore would be right up Balde's alley, as it turned out, with the new Number 28 expressing a desire to experience a new continent, after previous stints in Germany and Italy. Keeping his existing Number 23 was however not an option, with that already held by
Chirag Thevar, but this was a mild inconvenience for the new signing after all.
There could have been a second fresh face at The Cooking Pot, as
Tian Yonghang confirmed talk that the Birds had also been in for twenty year-old Czech playmaker Kristián Smola. The fee involved had become untenable, unfortunately, and Slovakian Division Four club Fc Spartak Štrkovec finally held off Romanian VI.719 side Tai Pan, to sign Smola for just over six million dollars.
