FORMER Liverpool striker El Hadji Diouf arrived in Kota Kinabalu yesterday for trials with the Sabah football team.
The 33-year-old forward from Senegal is among five foreign players eyeing four slots with the state team in the 2015 Malaysia League season.
The others bidding to earn their place are Australian midfielder Mitrovic Srecko, who played for the team last year, Brazilian defender Tales Dos Santos, and strikers Eamon Zayed from Libya and Roy O'Donovan from Ireland.
Sabah, now under manager and coach George O’Callaghan, will be playing in the Premier League next year and hope to earn promotion to the Super League.
Diouf, African Player of the Year twice in 2002 and 2003, has been a key asset targeted by the Sabah FA to beef up the team that have reinstated its name as the Rhinos.
Sabah Rhinos chief executive officer Datuk Seri TC Goh said the FA pulled out all stops to woo Diouf and was happy with his decision to try out with the team.
“We will most likely sign him up,” he said when contacted yesterday.
Apart from playing for Liverpool (2002-2005), Diouf played for Bolton Wanderers (2004-2008), Sunderland (2008-2009), Blackburn Rovers (2009-2011) and Leeds United (2012-2014).
He also made 69 international appearances for Senegal and scored 21 goals.
Two other players who may make the team pending a final decision by O’Callaghan are Dos Santos and Srecko.
The final slot for imports may
likely be a toss between Donovan, who played for Brunei DPMM in
the Singapore League this year, and Zayed.
Fourteen local players have been in training with O'Callaghan since late September and the FA is now looking for local players from other Malaysian League teams to complete the lineup of 25 players. By Roy Goh