Terengganu will parade their young Turtles for new season

PETALING JAYA: The season may have just ended, but Terengganu are already making plans for the 2020 season.

The Super League side, who will be coached by former international Nafuzi Zain, will parade mostly young Terengganu players led by their inspirational captain Lee Tuck for their campaign.

Nafuzi said the team are almost complete for next season and they are looking to seal a few more signings, including a foreign centreback and striker before their pre-season training in early December.

“We recently won an invitational tournament in Bangladesh. We took along our youngsters and I was amazed at their talent,” said Nafuzi, who was interim coach last season after Irfan Bakti resigned in May.

“Terengganu have their own style of play and we want to have local boys to play for us. We must have our own trademark.”

Terengganu won the Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup when they beat Abahani Limited Dhaka 2-1 in the final at the M.A. Aziz Stadium in Chattogram, Bangladesh.

In the Super League, they finished seventh with 30 points and qualified until the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and Malaysia Cup.

The team have only retained 13 players from last season’s squad and have released 12 players.

Ivorian Kipre Tchetche, Cambodian international Thierry Chantha Bin, striker Abdul Malik Ariff and winger Ahmad Syamim Yahya are some of the casualties.

Englishman Tuck, Uzbekistan international midfielder Sanjar Shaakhmedov, nippy midfielder Sharin Sapien and defender Nasrullah Haniff Johan are retained.

The club have only announced one new signing – Singaporean international Faris Ramli, who joins from Singapore Premier League (SPL) side Hougang United.

The 27-year-old will surely be one of the stars of the team as he scored 16 league goals for his former club and also recently won the SPL Player of the Year award.

Faris is no stranger to Malaysian football as he played for Lions XII from 2013 to 2015 and also for PKNS in 2018.

“I’ve been monitoring Faris since his Lions XII days. He recently won the best player and it’s no surprise because he is a brilliant player.

“I need this kind of player in my squad because he can use his intelligence and experience.

“I’m looking forward to working with him,” added Nafuzi.