Tarxien Rainbows have completed their first signings of the January transfer window after offering a deal to two Spanish players.
The BOV Premier League strugglers, third from bottom with 16 points, have signed midfielder Jorge Yepes and striker Edu Vallecillo as they look to strengthen their squad after releasing a host of foreign players in the past weeks.
Coach Clive Mizzi has been evaluating the qualities of Yepes and Vallecillo who have done enough to earn a contract with the Rainbows until the end of the season.
Yepes and Vallecillo could make their debut for Tarxien in tomorrow’s clash with Birkirkara, provided their International Transfer Certificate is sent to the Malta FA by this evening.
Two Serbian players arrived in Malta yesterday to start a trial with Qormi.
Midfielder Zoran Vujovic and forward Aleksandar Stojmirovic are training with Josef Mansueto’s squad with a view to securing a contract with the Yellow-Blacks.
The 28-year-old Vujovic came through the ranks of Partizan Belgrade while Stojmirovic, 32, started the season on the books of Greek side AE Ermionidas.
Qormi also have two Brazilian players on trial, midfielder Paulinho and striker Marcelinho but no decision has been taken on their future.
Mansueto is keen to increase his options in midfield and attack after Brazilian Anderson returned home last month and Ghanaian midfielder Albert Bruce was transferred to Naxxar Lions.
Sources have also told Times of Malta that Alfred Effiong has lodged his application to obtain a Maltese passport as the Nigerian striker has been married to a Maltese woman since 2010.
Gomes makes cut
Meanwhile, Hibernians defender Rui De Gracia Gomes has been named in Equatorial Guinea’s final squad for this month’s Africa Cup of Nations.
The towering centre-half was included in the 23-man squad announced by newly-appointed coach Esteban Becker yesterday.
Becker has dropped several imports from Brazil, Colombia and other African countries who were handed a passport and paid to represent the West African nation but awarded a spot in the squad to De Gracia Gomes.