Gilmar Filho and Wander Luiz scored a total of 21 and 16 goals between them last season as Perak had a tremendous year where they lifted the Malaysia Cup and finished second in the Super League. As a result, The Bos Gaurus participated in their first ever AFC Champions League play-off match earlier this year.
But fast forward to the middle of this 2019 season and both players have failed to live up to the high expectations based on their performances last season. Gilmar has only struck four goals in all competitions for Perak this season while Wander is one goal better.
Perak's heavy reliance on the Brazilian duo meant that when they are not on song, the team suffered greatly. Languishing in the bottom half of the Super League standings in 8th place, Perak are nowhere near where they are expected to be after a productive 2018.
With the mid-season transfer window now open, Perak have made the bold move of dispensing with both players and replaced them with Ronaldo Henrique Silva and Raianderson da Costa Morais, both of whom also comes from Brazil.
The 28-year-old Ronaldo is the more experienced one having played in Asia before with Yokohama FC in the Japan J2-League while 23-year-old Raianderson who is also known as Careca, has only played in the Brazilian leagues.
Both are signed only until the end of the season, and renewal depends very much on how they perform for Perak in the remainder of the season. The other imports in the team are Zachary Anderson and Leandro dos Santos, who seemingly have managed to keep their respective places.
Mehmed Durakovic is hoping that both Ronaldo and Careca will have their transfer completed in time for Saturday's FA Cup quarterfinal second leg against PKNP FC with all to play for after a scoreless first leg.
Follow Goal Malaysia on Instagram
.jpg?auto=webp&format=pjpg&width=640&quality=60)
.jpg?auto=webp&format=pjpg&width=640&quality=60)