June 1, 2004

Sinchi midfielder Shi Jiayi is expected to join the Young Lions. He will switch camps when the mid-season transfer window opens on June 14.

Shi is 1 of only 3 Sinchi players retained from last season squad. Sinchi finished seventh out of 12 teams last season, falling short of their ambitious top-four target & they are currently languishing second last in the S-League table.

Sinchi vice-chairman Wang Jinhui is delighted for Shi & does not view him leaving as a loss because the reason Sinchi is in Singapore is to bring in Chinese players who can help Singapore & to promote the S-League in China.

Whang feel Shi Jiayi becoming a Singapore international will help achieve that.

Shi, an only child, will not hesitate to accept Singapore citizenship if the chance present itself as that was his goal when he came to Singapore last year. He has already told his parents about the development & they have told him to seize the chance.

The FAS coaching staff of national coach Raddy, his assistant Fandi Ahmad & Young Lions coach Kim Poulsen will spend the rest of the season assessing him further.

FAS want the public to know he has only been identified as a potential target for the foreign talent scheme but FAS priority is still local youth development & the foreign players are just to supplement the limited talent pool.

The FAS have given citizenship to Brazil-born Egmar Goncalves, 34, Croatia-born Mirko Grabovac, 33, England-born Daniel Bennett, 26, and Nigeria-born Agu Casmir, 20.