• Deals for Argentine defender and Ukrainian keeper

• Roderick Briffa close to signing two-year contract

Valletta’s preparations for the new season are moving apace as yesterday they finalised their foreigners’ line-up.

With top-flight clubs now allowed to field up to seven foreigners, coach Paul Zammit, back for a second spell in charge of the Citizens, has devoted all his attention to recruiting new overseas players to reinforce the squad.

On Friday night, Valletta secured the signing of Juan Cruz Gill, a 31-year-old Argentine defender who has spent most of his career in Chile.

Zammit had made the acquisition of a central defender a top priority in view of Steve Borg’s potential move to Aris Limassol who have just been promoted to the top division in Cyprus.

It is understood that Borg, who has forged a reputation as one of the top defenders in the BOV Premier League, will travel to Cyprus this week for a medical.

Valletta have also decided not to offer a new contract to veteran defender Luke Dimech.

Zammit moved to strengthen his goalkeeping options with the signing of Oleksandr Musiyenko.

The 28-year-old Ukrainian is expected to arrive in the coming days after visa complications delayed his departure from eastern Europe.

The Valletta coach and his close collaborators, namely assistant Gilbert Agius and team manager Gerard Ellul together with club president Victor Sciriha and vice-president Alexander Fenech, have been working around the clock to secure their transfer targets.

Italian midfielder Claudio Pani has been taken on board as a re-placement for Ryan Fenech who has joined Balzan.

The Cagliari-born Pani, 29, has turned out for a few Italian clubs, including Lucchese, Triestina and Piacenza. Last season, he was on the books of Savona.

A dearth of strikers undermined Valletta’s bid to mount a strong challenge for the title last year but Zammit looks to have addressed the issue by snapping up no fewer than four attackers.

These are Cameroonian winger Njongo Priso, who has applied for a Maltese passport, Jhonnattann, the Brazilian striker who had a brief spell with the Citizens before his successful two-year stint with Birkirkara, Nigerian Calictus Umeh, who was on the books of Lithuanian club Ekranas, and Thierry Tazemeta, from Equatorial Guinea.

Of the foreign players Valletta had last season, only Tunisian winger Abdelkarim Nafti has been retained. Zammit is still assessing the qualities of Moldova defender Maxim Focsa.

Meanwhile, the Citizens are also in advanced talks with Malta midfielder Roderick Briffa over a new two-year deal.

Briffa, who has another year left on his current deal, is expected to be named vice-captain with defender Jonathan Caruana, who recently penned a new five-year contract, set to succeed Fenech as captain.

With the foreign players line-up now in place, Zammit will be looking to step up his squad’s pre-season preparations for the team’s commitments in the first qualifying round of the Europa League, the draw of which will be made at UEFA’s headquarters, in Nyon, tomorrow.

Pavia show Failla interest

Italian club Pavia are weighing up an offer for Hibernians wing-back Clayton Failla.

The sporting director of Pavia was in Malta last week to monitor Failla’s performance in the country’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Bulgaria after being alerted to the player by Stefano Pace, an Italian agent who works closely with Mauro Di Lello, the former Pieta Hotspurs and Sliema Wanderers defender.

The Sunday Times of Malta is informed that Failla left a good impression on the Pavia official as the Lega Pro club are eyeing a left-footed replacement for one of their players who is expected to move on this summer.

Meanwhile, reports also emerged yesterday that Hibs defender Andrei Agius is attracting the interest of a Romanian club.