Dong Tam Long An managers have added Brazilian midfielder Junior Laerte to their line up for the new season, while striker Le Cong Vinh decides to play football at home, not going to Japan.
The Brazilian was successful when playing for the V-League's Hanoi T&T and Ninh Binh. After returning to compete in his home town for several years, Laerte recently came back to Vietnam.
After being tested by Long An, he received the nod. The left-handed, 1.95m-tall player is adept at handling high balls and can play in attack mode effectively.
This is the second foreign-player contract signed by the team, which ranked ninth in the league last season. Earlier, Gilson Campos, also from Brazil, agreed to extend his contract to 2015.
Meanwhile, the 28-year-old striker Le Cong Vinh has decided to stay with the Song Lam Nghe An (SLNA) FC instead of going to Japan after a meeting with SLNA’s officials last week.
"Vinh has agreed to continue playing for the hometown team. We highly appreciate Vinh’s decision, especially when the club is facing a lot of difficulties and the Japanese FC’s offer is quite attractive," said SLNA Football JSC’s director Nguyen Hong Thanh said, as quoted by Vietnam Net online newspaper.
Thanh revealed that the Japanese second-division FC – Consadole Sapporo offered up to 240,000 USD to buy Vinh for one year but Vinh decided to play for SLNA – his hometown team.
Vinh repeatedly asserted that SLNA gave him a lot and he needed to repay the team. He also said that he would only leave if the team wanted it. In this case, Vinh gave the right of making decision to SLNA and the team was eager to keep the striker.
Thanh confirmed that the FC’s funding for the next season would be very limited but the team would not sell Vinh as the striker is now invaluable for SLNA. The team needs Vinh to support its young players after many pillars such as Trong Hoang, Van Binh and Van Hoan left the team at the end of the last season.-VNA
The Brazilian was successful when playing for the V-League's Hanoi T&T and Ninh Binh. After returning to compete in his home town for several years, Laerte recently came back to Vietnam.
After being tested by Long An, he received the nod. The left-handed, 1.95m-tall player is adept at handling high balls and can play in attack mode effectively.
This is the second foreign-player contract signed by the team, which ranked ninth in the league last season. Earlier, Gilson Campos, also from Brazil, agreed to extend his contract to 2015.
Meanwhile, the 28-year-old striker Le Cong Vinh has decided to stay with the Song Lam Nghe An (SLNA) FC instead of going to Japan after a meeting with SLNA’s officials last week.
"Vinh has agreed to continue playing for the hometown team. We highly appreciate Vinh’s decision, especially when the club is facing a lot of difficulties and the Japanese FC’s offer is quite attractive," said SLNA Football JSC’s director Nguyen Hong Thanh said, as quoted by Vietnam Net online newspaper.
Thanh revealed that the Japanese second-division FC – Consadole Sapporo offered up to 240,000 USD to buy Vinh for one year but Vinh decided to play for SLNA – his hometown team.
Vinh repeatedly asserted that SLNA gave him a lot and he needed to repay the team. He also said that he would only leave if the team wanted it. In this case, Vinh gave the right of making decision to SLNA and the team was eager to keep the striker.
Thanh confirmed that the FC’s funding for the next season would be very limited but the team would not sell Vinh as the striker is now invaluable for SLNA. The team needs Vinh to support its young players after many pillars such as Trong Hoang, Van Binh and Van Hoan left the team at the end of the last season.-VNA
