BY ZULHILMI ZAINAL Follow on Twitter
Although Selangor have made several big name signings ahead of the 2020 season, head coach B. Satiananthan has called for the rest of his charges to challenge for the first eleven spot on his team.
When met by Goal after conducting pre-season training on Wednesday, the experienced trainer has admitted the challenges that have come with their new signings.
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The Red Giants signed defenders Rodney Celvin and Nicholas Swirad, winger Nor Hakim Hassan and goalkeeper Tauffiq Ar Rasyid in the past month, but their most attention-grabbing signings are surely of Malaysia star Brendan Gan and Singapore international Safuwan Baharudin.
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Brendan Gan. Photo by Sports Regime
"Sandro da Silva will only join us later today while I gave Syahmi [Safari] a few extra off days because he recently played in the SEA Games and got married. The rest are doing well and I'm looking at building their fitness in the first four weeks [of pre-season training]
"The new players provide a different dimension to the team, yes, but their arrival will also raise the fans' expectations. But we must also be positive of the players other than Brendan and Safuwan, who are also vital to the team. They have to perform well too, because I'm not looking at the first eleven, I'm looking at the first 20.
"Everybody will get a chance to play, but they will have to show their real self. They shouldn't expect to be on the first eleven if they don't give their best. So far they have been giving their best in training, so I hope they do the same thing in matches," explained the former Felda United coach, who also added that they are unlikely to sign anymore first team players.
Apart from new players signed to their first team, they have also reportedly been signing a number of Mokhtar Dahari Academy graduates to their newly-established reserve team, who will compete in the Premier League next season. On the question whether any of them will be good enough to feature for the first team, this is Satiananthan's response:
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