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Kyoga Nakamura's deal - a bigger news

I can sense that excitement when Tampines Rovers surprised everyone when they dished out an unprecedented contract to bind Kyoga Nakamura for the next five years.

After all, a commitment for that duration is something unheard of in local football where it was a common thing to see one or, if lucky, a two-year contract for the players.

Furthermore, it came at a time when the economy is not doing well when most of us are worrying about our bread and butter.

CONTINUING OF THE HYPE?

The surfacing of this development definitely gave us a "wow" reaction, and probably something of a continuation of hype after the heroics of the Lions that melted the hearts of the nation in the recent AFF Suzuki Cup followed by the signing of Izwan Mahbud and M Anumanthan to the big-spending Lion City Sailors (LCS).

Not forgetting Albirex Niigata (Singapore) made eyes turn when they roped in former Japanese international Tadanari Lee (Lee is famous for scoring the winning goal for Japan in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup final, as shown in the attached clip)- a break from their usual recruitment policy of signing young Japanese and local players.

MENTORING ROLE FOR LEE AND KIM

But, like a friend said, the role and presence of Lee and Kim Shin-wook, his peer in LCS, should be someone in a mentoring role to bring the best out of their younger teammates and something would be wrong if both veterans found their names on the scoreboard more often than their juniors.

Last but not least, is it a wise move for a foreign player to be tied down by such a lengthy contract for his career advancement?

Of course, we cannot doubt Kyoga when he mentioned how he loves Singapore and blah, blah, blah (if not why would he want to commit his prime years in football backwaters like ours?).

Nonetheless, in this era of uncertainties, it is always good to have a backup option by not putting all the eggs in a basket.

JUSTIFICATION FOR THE STAGS' TRIO

The awarding of a five-year contract each to Kyoga Nakamura, Shah Shahiran, and Joel Chew by Tampines Rovers is an unprecedented move.

It may be seen as a future secured for the next few years without having to worry about "what is next" at the end of the year, if they are to harbour those thoughts, I think they will have to think again.

On the contrary, the triumvirate must triple up their efforts to prove they are worthiness of the five-year deal given to them, and ideally allow them to perform with the projection to move to play overseas (in the case for Shah and Joel), the earlier the better.

So the ability to perform well in the Stags' AFC Cup campaign is crucial.

- 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎'𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒍 (𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆:1,2) 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒑𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 24𝒕𝒉 𝑱𝒂𝒏𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒚 2022 -