Tambadaus and Brazilian import part ways
Sabah will be on the look out for two new foreign imports following the departure of Luiz Carlos Junior.
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah will be on the look out for two new foreign imports following the departure of Luiz Carlos Junior.
The Brazilian forward parted ways with the Tambadaus on mutual consent with Sabah Football Association (Safa), as confirmed by team manager Henry Saimpon yesterday.
With that, Junior, who has four league goals to his name, became the second player to leave the squad after on-loan Luka Milunovic returned to his parent club Malacca United last week.
“We are now looking to fill the two available slots for foreign players and hopefully we will be able to complete the deal for potential players before our next Premier League fixtures,” he said.
Sabah, who still have South Korean defender, Park Tae Su, and Serbian striker, Rodoljub Paunovic, will be away to UKM FC on May 17.
“As we are all aware of, we have a former Angola international striker Aguinaldo Mendes Veiga and Turkmenistan midfielder Ahmet Atayew undergoing trials with the squad. If they fit the team criteria, we will do everything we can to ensure they will be available for our upcoming match,” said Henry.
The 1.86m tall Veiga played for Ubon UMT in the Thailand Premier League last season and the 30-year-old’s last club was Poli Lasi FC in the Romanian Super League.
As for Atayew, the 1.85m tall player played for Arema and Persela in the Indonesian League between 2017 to 2019.
“The league has just got tougher where we are now into the second round...we need to further strengthen the squad and that is why we are taking advantage of the current transfer window.
“Safa and the state senior squad would like to thank Junior for his contributions... we wish him all the best,” said Henry.
Sabah is currently third in the 11-team league after collecting 21 points from six wins, three draws and two losses. The Jelius Ating-coached side trails leaders Johor Darul Ta’azim II (JDT II) by three points while separated by two points with second placed UiTM FC.
The UKM FC match will be the first of Sabah’s two away fixtures in May where thereafter they will take on Penang on May 25. Sabah will only return to play at their fortress Likas Stadium when they host Negeri Sembilan on June 15.