The veil has finally been lifted and after much talk in the past couple of days, Johor Darul Ta'zim FC have announced that they have completed the signing of Brazilian Diogo Luis Santo which signalled their intention for the 2019 season.
In the four seasons with Buriram, Diogo was practically a goal-scoring machine with 132 goals and 45 assists in just 158 games played for the Thai club. During that period he also helped the club to three Thai League 1 titles, and his move was keenly felt by fans of his former club.
Throngs of Buriram fans flocked to the JDT post on their Facebook page which revealed the move, thanking Diogo for his services and some even proclaimed him as the best import player the Thai league has ever seen.
Diogo follow a long line or predecessors to don the striking role for JDT, a mixture of hits and missess. 2012 European Championship winning Daniel Guiza was the first back in 2013, followed by Luciano Figueroa in 2014 who proved to be the one with the most success.
The 2015 signings of Patito Rodriguez and Alhaji Kamara were less impressive but a year later, Juan Martin Lucero became a big hit after he banged in 27 goals in the course of the season. Subsequent replacements in Mohammed Ghaddar, Jeronimo Barrales, Jorge Santos Silva and Fernando Marquez could not reach the same heights but this could change in the 2019 season.
With this latest signing, Diogo completes the cast of JDT for the 2019 which has also seen them transferring in Akhyar Rashid, Mauricio and Aaron Niguez. While defensively JDT may look vulnerable, from the attacking sense it looks like they have found themselves a real gem, albeit one who is on the wrong side of 30 years of age.
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