BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN

Friday, October 10, 2008

DPMM FC have opened talks with Muhammad Shukor Adan in an attempt to sign the 29-year-old midfielder.

The former captain of the Selangor team and the skipper of the Malaysian national squad, Shukor is currently a free agent.

Shukor captained the Malaysian team against English Premier League side Chelsea at the Shah Alam Stadium in July.

They lost 2-0 to the Blues, but the current EPL leaders' manager Luiz Felipe Scolari praised Shukor and Co for putting up a good fight.

The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) came up with a ruling in August that banned all foreign players from its domestic leagues next season. The move has led Brunei's premier club to look at signing quality Malaysian players to shore up its squad.

"He (Shukor) has good leadership qualities and we hope he can motivate our players," said DPMM FC manager Hj Eady Sardi PDDDP Hj Abd Razak when contacted yesterday.

"He is also a very good player. We hope our players can learn from him. That's why we want to sign him," he added.

"But no final decision has been made yet. If he agrees to play for DPMM FC he will arrive on Dec 1," said Hj Eady.

DPMM FC announced last month that they were chasing Shukor and another Malaysian international Indra Putra Mahyuddin.

Hj Eady, however, said that they were no longer pursuing Indra Putra, a prolific forward who plies his trade at Selangor and has represented Malaysia since 2002.

In August 1995, Shukor represented Melaka in the Under-18 FAM-Milo Championships.

He was then selected by German coach Holger Obermann to represent Malaysia in the 25th Asian Schools Championships in Kuala Lumpur in 1996.

Malaysia finished third in the tournament after losing 1-0 to South Korea in the semi-finals.

On Sept 28, 1997, Shukor scored a hat-trick against Brunei in the 26th Asian Schools Championships in Patna, India.

In 1998 he represented Negri Sembilan in Malaysia Games (Sukma) and helped his team become runners-up after losing to powerhouse Selangor.