Suara Denpasar – Arema FC made a drastic decision by carrying out a ‘warehouse clearance’ on its squad in the player transfer market for the 2023/2024 Liga 1 half season.
This decision surprised many parties. Arema General Manager, Yusrinal Fitriandi, finally revealed the reasons behind this controversial step.
So far, six players out of a total of 29 Arema players have been released. Before Gustavo Almeida was loaned to Persija Newsdelivers.com, Arema first released Hamdi Sula, Samsudin and Asyraq Gufron on loan, and Mikael Tata decided to resign. Following Evan Dimas who was also released on loan.
Yusrinal explained that the drastic reduction in the number of players in the Arema squad was not an easy decision. One of the main motives is financial problems.
“Actually, we only wanted to release 1-2 players in the player transfer market this half of the season, but it turned out there were up to six players. We do this for efficiency. “The management and coaches agree that this team is too fat, so it needs to be downsized,” said Inal, quoted from the Instagram account @pathdailyarema (14/11/2023).
This decision shows that Arema FC is facing significant financial challenges, and this step was taken to maintain the club’s financial stability.
Even though it is controversial, the management and coaches agree that downsizing the squad is necessary to ensure Arema FC’s continuity in the remainder of the 2023/2024 Liga 1 competition.
Meanwhile, Arema FC also benefited from the joining of Achmad Maulana and Ginanjar who joined Arema FC permanently. Previously, the two players were loaned for a season by Persija Newsdelivers.com.
This step can also be considered as a strategy to provide greater opportunities to players who are considered more vital to the team’s success. (*/Ana AP)