SINGAPORE – The Lion City Sailors have sounded a warning to their rivals that they mean business, as the Singapore Premier League (SPL) club aim to reclaim the title that they last won in 2021.
The SPL’s only privatised outfit confirmed on Feb 26 that they have signed attacking midfielder Bart Ramselaar from Dutch Eredivisie side Utrecht on a deal till the end of the 2025-26 campaign.
The 27-year-old, who has played for PSV Eindhoven and has three caps for the Netherlands, arrives for a reported fee of about €1.5 million (S$2.2 million). The sum is below the €1.8 million that the Sailors paid Portuguese Primeira Liga side Rio Ave for Brazilian playmaker Diego Lopes in 2021.
The deal for Lopes – who left Singapore after his three-year contract expired at the end of last season – is the most expensive in the SPL and the first time a league club had paid a multi-million transfer fee for a player from a top European team.
Citing the Sailors’ “great project” as a motivation for joining the club, Ramselaar said: “I’ve played my whole career in Holland, so it was always one of my targets to prove myself in a foreign league one day.
“I’m really intrigued by this new challenge in Singapore with the Sailors... I’m here to help the team with my experience and, hopefully, play some nice football that can get more fans into the stadium.”
Sailors coach Aleksandar Rankovic, who previously worked with Ramselaar when he was Utrecht’s assistant coach during the 2022-23 season, said: “Bart is a fantastic addition to the team with his speed and intelligent link-up play in the final third.
“I’m already looking forward to seeing how he can complement the likes of Maxime (Lestienne), Shawal Anuar and Richairo Zivkovic to give us an even better attacking threat.”
Jeroen Kapteijns, a journalist at Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, said that the Sailors are getting “a very skilful player with a good technique”.
He added: “Erik ten Hag (current Manchester United manager), who worked with him at Utrecht previously, was always impressed by his technique. It’s certainly a surprising move. I didn’t expect it at all, but it was his wish to go abroad one day and for him this is the opportunity to see something more of the world.”
Kapteijns also noted that the reported transfer fee was reasonable and close to the amount that PSV had paid Utrecht.
This season, Ramselaar has mostly been used off the bench in the Eredivise, making only three starts in 11 matches.
Kapteijns explained that the midfielder was “in top form with nine goals (during the 2021-22 season) and everyone expected him to make a transfer to a bigger club”. But, instead, he missed the rest of that season and the most of the following campaign owing to a knee injury, “so the injury came at a very unlucky moment”.
The signing is the Sailors’ second this season after Croatian centre back Toni Datkovic, 30.
The SPL season kicks off in May, with the Sailors gunning for glory after losing out in the title race to Albirex Niigata in the last two seasons. They are also competing in Asia’s second-tier club competition, the Asian Football Confederation Champions League 2.
