Safuwan Baharudin signing, impending Anderson Lopes arrival shows Lion City Sailors not resting on laurels

Open Extended Reactions

SINGAPORE -- They are coming off a wildly-successful season that would have been beyond their wildest imagination.

But even with a month still to go before the start of the new campaign, Lion City Sailors are already showing they will not be resting on their laurels.

The Sailors were already the dominant force in Singaporean football based on their exploits in the 2024-25 season -- which included a first Singapore Premier League title since 2021 with an eight-point margin over their closest challengers, followed by second consecutive Singapore Cup triumph.

Not content with just domestic success, the real magic of the campaign arrived on the Asian stage when the Sailors produced a fairy tale run to the AFC Champions League Two final -- which saw them become the first Singaporean club to reach a continental decider -- before narrowly losing to heavy favourites Sharjah in heartbreaking fashion.

It would be forgivable if the Sailors were still basking in the afterglow of last term's commendable exploits, which was recognised by six players being named in the SPL's Team of the Year at the league's end-of-season awards.

Yet, off the field, they have not stopped going full steam ahead.

Over the past month, the Sailors have relentlessly announced contract renewals of key players, including captain Hariss Harun, livewire forward Shawal Anuar, Singapore No. 1 Izwan Mahbud and defensive lynchpin Bailey Wright.

Both Shawal and Wright were rewarded for fine campaigns by being nominated for the SPL's Player of the Year award, although it was unsurprisingly ultimately claimed by a deserving Tomoyuki Doi following an incredible 44-goal season.

Retaining the nucleus of a team which achieved plenty last season was always going to be important but, lest that be mistaken for a club being content with what they already have, the big plays are only just starting to arrive.

On Sunday, the Sailors announced the loan signing of Safuwan Baharudin from Malaysia Super League outfit Selangor.

Arguably one of Southeast Asia's best defenders of his generation, Safuwan returns to the SPL for the first time since 2011 a completely different player to the promising talent he once was coming through the Young Lions ranks.

Now with 124 caps to his name but still only 33, Safuwan became the first Singaporean to play in Australia's A-League during a brief-but-successful loan spell with Melbourne City before spending the last decade with four different teams in the MSL -- where he even captained Selangor.

Lion City Sailors became the first Singaporean club to reach a continental decider after a fairy tale run to the AFC Champions League Two decider last season, where they ultimately fell to a heartbreaking narrow loss to Emirati powerhouses Sharjah. Steve Christo - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

His arrival will only further strengthen an already-formidable defence that will also include Australia international Wright and Toni Datković, who were both among the six Sailors named in last season's SPL Team of the Year.

His signing preceded another two prominent moves this week.

Portuguese wingback Diogo Costa, who was a real revelation following his midseason loan arrival, completed a permanent move from Famalicão on Tuesday. In a real statement of intent, the Sailors have tied the 21-year-old down to a five-year deal -- a contract length which is a rarity in Asian football and even more so in this region.

A day earlier, it had been announced that coach Aleksandar Ranković had penned a two-year contract extension with the Sailors labelling the renewal as "underscoring the club's commitment to continuity and building on the strong foundation laid during a historic 2024/25 season."

There can be no denying the impact that Ranković has made since he took the reins in June 2023.

He won the Singapore Cup just six months later but always held loftier ambitions.

Even as the Sailors were pulling off upset after upset in their ACL Two escapades, Ranković always insisted that the SPL title was an equally crucial target -- acknowledging that domestic success remained their bread and butter.

Ranković is the first to admit that the Sailors are unlikely to be able to match last season's achievements.

That does not mean they will not be trying.

"What we've achieved last season was extraordinary and will be difficult to replicate, but we relish this challenge," said Ranković.

Perhaps more so than the undeniably crucial task of retaining integral first-team personnel, it is the new arrivals such as Safuwan that will not only invigorate the Sailors faithful but also provide a definitive statement that the club is pushing forward.

And there is one name that could really show that the Sailors mean business.

Heavily linked with a move to Lion City Sailors, prolific Brazilian striker Anderson Lopes was unable to hold back his tears at the weekend in what now appears to be his final game for former J1 League champions Yokohama F. Marinos. Masashi Hara/Getty Images

Already gathering steam in the rumour mill for some time now, the signing of Anderson Lopes -- if proven to be true -- would be one of the biggest transfers in the history of Singaporean football.

ESPN understands that it is a matter of time before the Sailors complete the transfer, with Lopes unable to hold back tears after scoring the only goal of Yokohama F. Marinos' 1-0 win over local rivals Yokohama FC at the weekend -- with all signs pointing to that being his final match for the fallen J1 League giants.

Although Marinos won the last of their seven league titles as recently as in 2022, they have suffered a previously-unfathomable fall from grace -- currently bottom of the J1 League with just four wins from 23 games so far having already slumped to a disappointing 9th-place finish last season.

Lopes has been the highest-scoring player in the J1 League over the past four years with a total of 69 goals, leading the competition with 24 last term after sharing the top scorer award with Yuya Osako on 22 the previous season.

The 31-year-old Brazilian remains a formidable threat in attack despite a downturn in his and Marinos' fortunes this year, and is also a proven scorer at continental level with 18 goals in the AFC Champions League Elite since 2022.

The SPL has had bigger-name imports such as ex-Arsenal and Liverpool man Jermaine Pennant when it was still known as the S.League. In its infancy, the competition even boasted players that went on to feature at the FIFA World Cup in Iranian duo Mohammad Khakpour and Hamid Estili.

Still, the ability to convince a player who has been starring in arguably Asia's strongest league to move to Singapore would be testament to the Sailors' ever-growing ambition and pulling power.

Should Lopes join Safuwan in -- at opposite ends of the field -- bolstering a star-studded Sailors lineup, maybe coming close to replicating their achievements of last season would not be as unlikely as it seems.

For all the moves the Sailors are making this off-season, it certainly would not be for a lack of trying.

Click here to read article