Vincent Enters
There would be some movement of players for all three Grilled clubs this weekend, as their respective head coaches sought to streamline their squads. On Grilled Birds' end, this would involve the departure of talented 17 year-old midfielder Yip Ying Han to freshly-inaugurated German VII.1014 club TV Altjührden on a free, as their first-ever signing.
Birds scout Lim Hock Puay, who had brought Yip into the fold from the fringes of his secondary school team, could not recommend the youngster highly enough. "He's improved greatly in his single year in the Chicken Wings, and has the basics down pat. You won't find him making many mistakes in a match."
Next up, Farmer Bunnies divested themselves of trainee goalkeeper Liu Pin Boon - who had turned nineteen five days ago - also to a German team, this time III.2 members Kickers Zollstock. The Kickers will however be relegated to Division Four after a challenging season, and word is that under-fire English boss Peter Steele may be looking to rebuild, having also just brought in the similarly-aged Gauvain Flahaux from Belgian sixth divisioners kvc Fabi.
As with Lim, Rancher Rabbits scout Yip De Da had faith in his mentee. "He has been a safe pair of hands with the youth team, and is especially decisive in coming out for corners and long balls. I guess all those hours in the gym paid off for Liu, after all."
For Grilled International, they would acquire 17 year-old midfielder
Vincent Nordin bin Hj Irwan from Danish VI.192 club Mureren, for the sum of S$374000 following a protracted bidding war with Belgian Division Six presumptive champions AS HERSTAL. He had played just three matches for Mureren since arriving from Polish VI.302 outfit Orkan Bełżec, but this would be enough to convince scouts that he should be playing at a higher level.
This was not a minority opinion by any means, with no fewer than four other clubs having put in official offers for the youngster: gueget_team (French Division Seven), MKS Pogoń Stargard (Polish Division Six), Turchino per sempre (Italian Division Six) and SV Hamburg 1987 (German Division Seven). Torre Calcio, his original side currently challenging for the B-League, were unfortunately not interested yet, which made Grilled International something of a natural destination.
With his favoured Number Eight currently held by
Snæbjörn Sigfússon, Vincent would settle for the 28, encouraged by
Sazwan bin Hj Muhd Salleh's promises of ample gametime. "From what we have seen, Vincent's a natural midfield playmaker." the International head coach said. "I don't think it will take him long to get used to our system - and do Wang Hanxuan's number justice!"
Sazwan moreover did not dispel rumours that International had been looking at Vincent's Torre Calcio senior, 18 year-old forward Suni bin Hj Hashim, who had also been made available by Curaçao IV.42 side Willibrordus on fire. The coaching staff decided against making an approach at the end, however, leaving Madrid's Racing Calambres to take him to the Spanish sixth division for just over seven hundred thousand dollars.
