Valletta are closing in on their second signing of the January transfer window after reaching an agreement with Miguel Alba.

Speculation has been rife in the last few weeks that the Malta champions were keen to resign Alba after the latter fell out of favour with Birkirkara, just six months after completing a move with the Stripes.

Last summer, the Argentine midfielder opted not to extend his contract with Valletta and decided to rejoin Birkirkara, the club who had brought him to Malta a few years ago.

However, his move to Birkirkara failed to leave the desired dividends for Alba who has fallen out of favour with the Birkirkara administration and in fact he was not in the plans of Andre Paus in their recent outings.

Last weekend, the Stripes announced that they had released Alba, who made eight appearances with the club and scoring four goals, from his Birkirkara contract, paving the way for the 31-year-old to seek pastures new.

Valletta immediately made an offer for the player and an agreement was reached.

Alba is due to meet with the Valletta administration on Monday afternoon before finalizing his return to the capital club.

Alba has fond memories of his time at Valletta as the Argentine played a key role for the Lilywhites in their Premier League title triumph last season, when he was also named as the best overseas player in the Premier League.

For Valletta, Alba is their second acquisition this month after they have already brought in midfielder Triston Caruana, formerly of Ħamrun Spartans.

The Citizens are likely to continue to be active in the winter transfer window as they are looking to bring in a forward.

The name of Federico Falcone, who is also on the books of Birkirkara, has also been linked with Valletta but the Citizens have been put off by the demands of the forwards.

Sources said that Valletta are in talks with two overseas strikers who have never played in the Maltese Premier League.