KUALA LUMPUR: Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) football club previously announced that they are looking to lower their expenditure between 30 and 40 per cent this season.
A number of parties, however, have expressed doubt that the Southern Tigers will actually reduce their spending having recently brought in two high value import players — Jalil Elias and Francisco Geraldes.
In fact, the two are now the most expensive players in the M-League for the 2024-2025 season. Elias, who is a Syrian national, is valued at roughly RM15 million and Geraldes, from Portugal, is valued at RM12.7 million by the website transfermarkt.com.
Their arrival sees another JDT player, Jordi Amat, falling to third place in the most valuable players list.
The new signings are possibly the reason why a number of parties have questioned JDT's commitment towards reducing their spending under their financial restructuring exercise. The latter is to ensure the long term wellbeing of the club.
It, however, has to be remembered that JDT have already announced the departure of a number of star players, including Aidil Zafuan Abd Radzak, S. Kunanlan, Ahmad Hazwan Bakri, Adam Nor Azlin, Leandro Velazquez, Diogo Luis Santo and Fernando Forestieri.
A number of other players are also set to be loaned out. This includes Oscar Arribas, Syafiq Ahmad, Safawi Rasid, Akhyar Rashid and Haziq Nadzli.
Moreover, the JDT coaching staff that guided the team to back-to-back quadruple wins — which includes Esteban Solari, Rodrigo Barrios, Antonio Mateos, Antonio Gavilan and Dr Leandro Pinero — have also been released.
Thus, it could be the strategy of JDT and its owner Tunku Mahkota of Johor (TMJ) Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, to release players who have been with the club for a long time and to bring in a number of high quality players.
Based on the profile of the players brought in, it does not appear that the strength of the Southern Tigers will be diminished this season and they will not be viewed as underdogs by other teams.
In fact, Tunku Ismail, in a comment on Instagram recently, has hinted that there is more to come from the club.
"Welcome Chico (Geraldes). A new era, a new project. More to come," said Tunku Ismail.