Woodlands Wellington defender Precious Emuejeraye signed with Sriwijaya FC

(Photo: How Hwee Young, EPA)

On the heels of striker Noh Alam Shah moving from Tampines Rovers to Arema Malang, Woodlands Wellington defender Precious Emuejeraye signed with Sriwijaya FC on Wednesday.

“[Woodlands] knows about this signing and have agreed to release Precious to Sriwijaya after his contract ends on November,” said Onana Jules, the player’s agent, on Thursday.

The 26-year-old is the first Asian player to sign for Sriwijaya, and coach Rahmad Darmawan has no problem with waiting.

“It’s hard to find Asian players, so it’s worth the wait. The ISL will start on Oct. 11, so I think he won’t miss much and, as a professional, I’m sure he could easily blend in with his new teammates,” Rahmad said.

Details of the transfer were undisclosed, but Indonesian media reported the defender would earn about Rp 1.3 billion per year.

Emuejeraye initially came to Singapore in 2002 to play for now-defunct Jurong FC. He moved to Young Lions after Jurong folded, and three years later he transferred to Gombak United before moving to Woodlands in 2008.

Emuejeraye, born in Nigeria, took Singaporean citizenship in 2005 and made his national team debut on Jan. 26, 2006.

“I’ve been playing in the S-League for seven years, and I think now it’s the right time to try something new, he told state-run news agency Antara. “Sriwijaya is a big Indonesian club, and they have won the domestic league and cups, so playing here will be a great challenge for me.” Jakarta Globe

Mustafic Fahrudin joined Persija

Jakmania.org

The migration of talent to the Indonesian Super League from Singapore continued in earnest on Saturday.

Persija Jakarta made good on its plans to add Singapore international midfielder Mustafic Fahrudin to its squad. The Serbia-born player joins international teammates Noh Alam Shah and Precious Emuejeraye in making the move to Indonesia.

“I have finally signed with Persija. We’ve been talking for almost a month,” Fahrudin said on Saturday. “I arrived in Jakarta on Saturday morning, and I finalized my contract. I am looking forward to playing my home games in front of thousands of Persija fans.”

Fahrudin’s signing ended speculation that he would join Tampines Rover teammate Alam Shah at Arema Malang.

Arema officials had earlier claimed the naturalized Singaporean had a “gentlemen’s agreement” with the club, but Fahrudin dismissed those claims and said Persija was the only club to contact him.

“I never talked with any official from Arema. The only person from Arema that I talked to was Alam Shah,” the 28-year-old said. “I didn’t want to start talking with any other clubs before Persija, and I wanted to be fair to them. There’s no point talking about Arema now.”

Fahrudin is scheduled to join the Kemayoran Tigers on Sept. 25. He originally expressed a desire to remain at Tampines until his contract expired in December, but he said Tampines agreed to release him from his contract. Jakarta Globe

Noh Alam Shah officially a Crazy Lions

the-afc.com

Tampines Rovers striker Noh Alam Shah has officially signed a year deal with Indonesian Super League (ISL) outfit, Arema Malang.

“I have lost a lot of motivation to play in the S-League, for reasons I do not wish to elaborate right now,” Alam Shah told Today, after Tampines’ 1-0 loss at Woodlands last night. “But football in Indonesia is very physical and that’s what I’m looking for. It’ll be great to play weekly in front of big crowds.” From Todayonline

Noh Alam Shah international teammates,Baihakki Khaizan and Mustafic Fahrudin may join him as well but they are still considering the move.

Arema Malang finished 10th in the 2008-2009 ISL season.Arema supporters who call themselves the Aremania are considered to be one of the most fanatic supporters among all of the Indonesian football clubs supporters.ania has been awarded as The Best Indonesian Football Supporters by Football Association of Indonesia

Catch Goal.com interviewed with Noh Alam Shah on his moved to his new club.

Three Singapore players on the verge of signing for Arema

Arema has been reported to have snapped three Singapore players for the 2009 season.They are Baihakki Khaizan from Geylang United,Noh Alam Shah and Mustafic Fahrudin,both from Tampines Rovers.

This news has created some spark on the internet,but the truth is yet to be seen.We have to wait reports from the Singapore side to confirm this transfer news.

Bai and Bambang are going to face one another next season

Precious is a Rams!

Woodlands Wellington Football Club has signed Singapore international defender Precious Emurajaye.The arrival of the Rock will further boost a very good defense that have not conceded in 3 preseason games. With Rezal Hassan, Daniel Hammond and Eduardo Hicks holding the the backline together with Precious in the near future, the Rams fans will now be quietly confident of a good season.

Previously playing for Gombak, Precious has a reputation for being a no-nonsense defender. However, critics will point out that he has been found wanting quite a couple of times due his lack of pace and inabilty to concentrate at crucial times. There is no doubt that he is a good defender, and under the leadership of Coach Nenad Bacina, who was a solid defender during his playing days, we could yet see the best of Precious.

Fadzu the ‘replacement’ striker

Former international striker Fadzuhasny Juraimi is believed to be the forward that was signed by Home United to replace Indra Sahdan.

The 29-year-old had played for Home United previously under Steve Darby reign where he was used commonly from the bench but the forward still kept a decent goal ratio with 13 goals from 44 games in the domestic scene.

However his form dropped since his departure from Home, with only 7 goals in 60 games for Geylang United and Woodlands Wellington in the last two years. That nearly 9 games for every goal.

Young Lions helmed by new coach

There will be changes at the top in the Young Lions team

The Cubs will now be helmed by new coach Terry Pathnmanthan, the former national Under-21 coach, who has swopped roles with the last two season coach, V.Sundramoorthy.

This is a result of FAS adopting a format used with Serbia youth teams with the new Technical Director Slobodan Pavkovic.

Geylang retain Belicak and Latiak

Geylang United will retain the Slovakian pair of Rastislav Belicak and Miroslav Latiak.

Miroslav Latiak was widely expected as he had impressed once he settled down in the second half of last season but Rastislav Belicak will have much to prove as he seldom proved a factor in matches.

The Eagles have also completed theor foreign signing with the capture of Canadian striker Rickey Marvin Harris.

The Canadian hailed from GS United in the Ontario Soccer League (A Provincial League but considered the best in Canada)

He had finished as top scorer of the club in the club championship winning run last season and was subsequently named as rookie of the year.

Seto signs with Geylang

Japanese defender Haruki Seto has signed for Geylang United.

The 30-year-old had been one of the players Balestier Khalsa has been actively seeking to retain for 2009 but had been unable to persuade him to remain with the club.

He has been impressed with the terms offered by Geylang United and the fact he could be with a team that could challenge for honours, in the Cup competition as least, as it was unlikely the Tigers could build a team strong enough to mount any challenges as the Toa Poyah club continue to cut back in the face of the economic times ahead .

With the earlier signing of former Home defenders Walid Lounis and Kamarulariffin Abdul Karim, Geylang United has nearly reconstructed it defence for 2009 with only Baihakki Khaizan and Jonathan Xu left over as Lau Meng Meng, Fabian Tan, Noh Rahman and Aide all depart the club.

Fellow Tigers Lenan s/o Govindaraju is joning Seto at Geylang as well.

Itimi linked with Home again

Former Singapore international Itimi Dickson is seeking a return to the S-league again via Home United once more.

The Singapore midfielder had tried to seek a return to the S-league via Home United during last year mid-season transfer window.

The midfielder had been earlier playing in the now-defunct Indonesia Liga since June 2007 and had tryouts for the then reformed Indonesia Super Liga but failed to notch a contract with any clubs there.

However any chance of him appearing in a Protectors shirt vanished as the midfielder failed his Beep test meaning he could not played in the S-league thus Home United could not sign him.

Now he has to face the same obstacle once more and pass the Beep Test, which has raised it standard to 13-1, if he wishes to play in the S-league.