Saturday, June 01, 2013
Stags' Clear Out
He slipped on the wet pitch with his first touch of the ball at the Hougang Stadium on Wednesday night.
But Tampines midfielder Martin Wagner picked himself and went on to have a decent first half in last night's RHB Singapore Cup match against Hougang.
The 27-year-old Argentinian, brought into the Stags' camp as a marquee signing in January, played his last match for the club as they lost 2-1 and crashed out of the competition in the first round.
Wagner, who will return to Buenos Aires next Tuesday, never settled in Singapore and struggled to make an impression with the reigning two-time S-League champions.
He submitted a request to club management to be released from his contract last month, citing homesickness.
That request was granted on Monday by club chairman Teo Hock Seng, who also released head coach Nenad Bacina, assistant Hyrizan Jufri, goalkeeper coach Yusri Abdul Aziz and Serbia striker Sead Hadzibulic.
As a result of his written request, Wagner - unlike the other four - will receive no compensation for the remainder of his one-year contract.
The contract is believed to be worth around 200,000 euros ($325,000) for 12 months.
Transfer window
The S-League transfer window opens next week and Tampines are in negotiations to bring in a former South Korean international striker as Wagner's replacement.
Despite being replaced at half-time, the Argentina anchorman wore a smile as his team left the stadium.
When asked how he felt about his last match on Singapore soil, Wagner gave the thumbs-up.
"Good," he said in limited English.
"(It was) very difficult to play here... very different for me."
SOURCE - AsiaOne
COMMENT - gotta say when I saw Tampines last month hardly noticed Wagner until he kicked the ball in frustration and picked up a daft booking.
Typical frustrating Singapore story, no analysis, no opinion, no nothing. They are happy to pick up on agency stories from England full of conjecture and opinion but win't do the same on their own patch. I mean the coach is out but is mentioned here almost as an aside. That is usually quite a big story in most football countries.
# posted by Me @ 10:44 AM 
