No Issues in Persib’s Player Recruitment
Persib coach Igor emphasized that there are no problems with the player recruitment process this season. Igor Tolic stated that Persib’s new player recruitment is going very well, bringing in high-quality players.
Igor Tolic admitted he was confused by the public response, which always seems to want to be involved in the player recruitment process. In his view, this situation is quite perplexing because Persib has already executed its recruitment plan properly.
Recently, there has been significant pressure on Persib to bring in new players for the striker and goalkeeper positions before the transfer window closes. However, these demands did not receive much of a reaction from Maung Bandung, who chose to maintain their existing squad.
“We have Balsa (Sekulic), a striker. We have Peralta, an extraordinary striker. I don’t have a better striker in the league than Peralta. (Luka) Menalo, Ragnar (Oratmangoen), Beckham (Putra), Berguinho, 6–7 players, (Uilliam) Barros. Everyone is different,”
“The problem here is that with the pre-season we had, we didn’t get many training sessions. So when you see why Balsa looks best at the number nine position, do you know what the answer is? Because he spent the most time in that number nine role,” Igor explained.
He further clarified that Persib does not need any additional players at all. There are plenty of attack-minded players who can serve as options if Balsa Sekulic is unable to turn things around when given the chance.
“Everyone in the Persib team—we are one team. Everyone in any position brings something, a different weapon. Peralta is a different weapon, Barros is a different weapon, Ragnar is a different weapon. So we have a lot of options, which is why I am very happy,” he added.
He also suspected that this public pressure might be a tactic to disrupt Persib’s focus this season. Furthermore, the Croatian coach feels that many outside parties do not want Persib to win the championship for a fourth consecutive time.
“So recruitment is not the problem. I think some people are just pushing an agenda to divert attention from the actual issue. If you look around us—not inside Persib, but around Persib—it’s a war,”
“Outside, it’s a war against 17 other clubs that want to be better than Persib. After three years, nobody wants Persib at number one, but we want it, and the Bobotoh want it. With the Bobotoh beside us and behind us, nothing can stop us.”
