THE Johor Darul Ta’zim Football Club (JDTFC) is not a prison for any of its player and will not stop any player who wants to go and play abroad, said the Tunku Mahkota of Johor (TMJ), Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim.
The JDTFC owner also revealed that the football club has yet to receive an offer from other clubs to purchase sensational young winger Arif Aiman Hanapi.
“If anyone wants [to purchase any of the JDT players], make us an offer that would benefit the club. Our club is not a prison; anyone who wants to go abroad can go abroad,” he insisted in an online interview on the Johor Southern Tigers official Facebook page last night.
Tunku Ismail was responding to speculations on social media that sensational young JDT player Arif might be spreading his wings overseas.
The 20-year-old player, as any football aficionado would know, is a two-time Malaysian Football League (MFL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2021 and 2022.
Arif has been so prominent that he has been eyed by many overseas clubs, including several top K-league sides and J-league club Kashiwa Reysol. It has also been reported that several European scouts and agents were similarly monitoring him as well.
Meanwhile, Tunku Ismail pointed out that players who have seen action overseas are not necessarily better.
Tunku Ismail said a number of local players who decided to play abroad certainly could not make an impact, among them Titus James who plays in the French League, Luqman Hakim Shamsudin who plays for a club in Iceland (Njardvik) and Hadi Fayyadh Abdul Razak who played for former Japan’s Division Three club Azul Claro Numazu.
He said local football fans must instead look at the quality of the league participated by these players in their respective countries before idolising them for playing outside Malaysia.
“For example, Titus James had been playing in France for such a long time but what is his contribution to the National team,” he remarked.
“The same goes to Luqman, and I sympathise because he is a good player, good attitude but the quality of matches, minutes or chances in Europe is not easy. Even getting quality playing time in South Korea or Japan is not easy, and look at Hadi Fayyadh, he is now playing for Perak FC.
“It’s just the experience of staying in a country with a cool climate because when they return, there is nothing, so fans must be realistic and evaluate such things because we in the football industry are not receptive of the idea that players who play abroad are good. To me that is not logical.” – April 7, 2023
Main pic credit: Bernama
