July 30, 2025

It has been a quiet few months here at Sailorfantalk and for fans of local football, but the 2025/26 season is finally upon us! Behind the scenes, the Sailors have been far from quiet, working on a number of astute signings to strengthen key positions, as we look to once again challenge on multiple domestic and regional fronts. As the dust settles, it looks like we have 4 new players coming into the squad this season: Safuwan Baharudin A stalwart for the national team for well over a decade with 124 caps, Safuwan was one of the best local players that we could have signed in this window, given that many of the top locals already play for Sailors. Safuwan was the first Singaporean player to appear on the modern FIFA game when he was playing for Melbourne City in 2015. After a short loan spell there, he spent close to 10 years in the Malaysia Super League, amassing over 130 appearances, and this marks his first return to the local league since his Young Lions stint in 2011. In his last season at Selangor, he kept 7 clean sheets and recorded 1.40 interceptions and 3.83 aerial duels won per game. Given Coach Ranko’s tendency to play 3 centrebacks, additional depth in this position would go a long way in helping us compete effectively in four different competitions. Ivan Susak Becoming the tallest player to ever play for Sailors at 2.03m, Ivan Susak had an impressive season in the Croatian top tier, getting 10 clean sheets and a 73% save percentage from 35 games. There will no doubt be some concerns over Izwan’s minutes this season, but Ivan’s experience in Europe will surely complement the 2 solid keepers we already have in Izwan and Adib, to bring our goalkeeping unit to another level. Tsiy Ndenge Not a name most local fans are familiar with, but if his youtube highlights are anything to go by, Tsiy adds another dimension to our midfield as a physical box-to-box midfielder who also provides a goal threat from outside the box. In the last 3 seasons, he recorded a pass accuracy of 82.3%, with 0.32 key passes and 0.61 successful dribbles per game. A youth product of Borussia Mönchengladbach, Tsiy brings plenty of experience from several European leagues, and it was rumoured that Sailors had to fend off interest from some clubs playing in UEFA competitions to secure his signature. Anderson Lopes For those familiar with Asian football, the headline signing of the window needs no introduction. Anderson Lopes has scored so many goals that the goal compilation video posted by Yokohama F. Marinos is 45 minutes long. The Sailors had no problems scoring goals last season, netting a whopping 145 goals across all competitions, and to add to that firepower we’ve somehow managed to get the J League top scorer for the past 2 seasons to grace the sunny shores of Singapore. Lopes recorded 0.67 goal contributions per game in his time at Yokohama F. Marinos, and scored with 18.2% of his shots. Huge expectations are inevitable with his reputation and price tag, and I hope he hits the ground running once the SPL season kicks off. I’ll admit that I don’t have much more knowledge on our new signings, other than having watched Safuwan play for the national team, and the occasional Marinos J League game on youtube, so I’ll leave it to our foreign football correspondent Joseph Chin to take us through his thoughts on each of them: ——————————————————————- 2 months to catch a breather, after 2 of the most intense months in Q2 of 2025, and here we are kickstarting the real festival of football in August. Apart from keeping the core of our squad and also sending some players with potential out for game time and experience, we are looking forward to seeing some of our new signings come in to help build on the progress of last season. If “this is Home truly, where I know I must be.. Then Mattar is where dreams are waiting for him, where the river always flows. Putting aside the obvious Kit Chan references in the lead up to National Day, seeing Safuwan Baharudin kitted out in a Sailors jersey is a nice change of scenery from Selangor. While the deal was framed as a loan from the Malaysian Super League club, and whom we might potentially meet in this season’s AFC Champions League Two (ACL2), it is very likely that this return home will be a permanent one in the end. As much as Selangor has become a stepping stone for the likes of Yazan Al Arab to eventually go on to greater things for club and country with Jordan, who are debuting in the upcoming World Cup 2026 (and where two other Jordanians who played key roles in this historic qualification still play at), staying in the Super League would feel like a step back for Safuwan given the way he was made to train with the reserves towards the end of last season, on orders of the management. The faded Red Giants would have also taken the chance to renew their squad with a defence built around Jordan’s World Cup hero Mohammad Abualnadi and the eye-catching captures of promising youngsters Chrigor (Buriram United) and Thai international Picha Autra up front to complement the other Jordanian in midfield, the newly minted vice-captain Noor al Rawabdeh. That said, with the vast international experience on offer for the Sailors via Safuwan, the defence is poised to take a step up where additional options to initiate attacks from deep will go hand-in-glove with the invaluable leadership of the well-travelled centreback who has excelled at home with LIONSXII and abroad in the A-League and MSL. What I would envision is Safuwan excelling in a sweeper role as the last man, or a libero in between defence and midfield with his elegance on the ball mixed with the typical steel of a centre back. As