Foreign Flops

Days ago, Geylang United terminated the contract of defender Oliver Nicholas, stating that they did so because Nicholas "[had] an off-colour training session". Nicholas came to Singapore with an impressive resume - he had played for the youth teams of Blackburn Rovers, Arsenal and Manchester City - and left with his reputation in tatters and without a club. Incidents like these make one wonder: do S-League clubs sign foreign players based on talent and ability or the mere 'need' to fill up their quotas?

We take a look at some overseas players whose S-League careers took similar trajectories to Nicholas'.

1. Leonardo Aleixo Costa (Woodlands Wellington, half a season)

The Brazilian forward became the S-League's tallest-ever player when he signed for Woodlands Wellington at the beginning of last season. His impact, however, was nowhere near as great as his stature; Woodlands sent him packing the very next transfer window, the two-metre-tall striker having scored just two league goals.


2. Niklas Sandberg (SAFFC, half a season)

This was billed as the 2010 season's biggest transfer deal: SAFFC had signed a former Swedish international midfielder with several years of European league play behind him. However, the deal turned out to be quite a disaster: Sandberg did put in some good performances but certainly did not live up to expectations and, citing homesickness, left for Sweden halfway through the season. He was eventually replaced by Ivan Jerkovic.


3. Renato Martins (Tampines Rovers, a few weeks)

Martins, like Sandberg, arrived in Singapore with enormous pedigree. However, just weeks into the 2001 season, he left for Gremio having just scored one league goal for Tampines Rovers.