Sabah FA signs proven forward from Angola and Turkmenistan captain
May 14, 2019
Sabah FA had secured the signing of former Angola national striker Aguinaldo Mendes Veiga and Turkmenistan’s midfielder Ahmet Atayev.
Mendes is a clinical striker with a very good scoring record from all thirteen teams he had played for. The 30-year-old Angola national team striker had scored over 92 goals with his former clubs, with his stint for Thailand’s Ubon UMT United seeing him score 12 goals from 17 appearances.
Standing at 1.86m, Mendes was also impressive with Romanian League 1 team Politehnica Iași FC as he contributed 8 goals from 13 appearances with the team. Mendes’s presence is expected to further bolster Sabah’s striking force which had already scored an impressive 20 goals in the Liga Premier.
Atayev on the other hand plays in midfield and has had stints in Indonesian clubs like Arema and Persela.
The former captain of Turkmenistan is a regular player at all his former clubs and is still called up for his national team.
At 28-years-old, Atayev is considered a very creative midfielder who can open up play to allow his team to dominate the midfield. His vision on the ball is something many teams are looking for and Sabah are considered to have secured a coup by signing the 1.85m tall man.
Both Mendes and Atayev are expected to debut for Sabah against UKM FC this Friday.
Both Mendes and Atayev joins Sabah following the departure of Luka Milunovic and Luis Carlos Junior.
Milunovic’s stay with Sabah couldn’t be extended as his loan tenure with Sabah had ended and his parent club Melaka United had wanted him back.
Junior’s contract was not renewed by the North Borneo side.
Sabah had also decided to extend the contract of Serbian Rodoljub Paunovic following his good performances.
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This article is brought to us by our Sports Writers Club resident columnist – Cyril Dason.
