Salgaocar Football Club began their pre-season training two days back at Duler Stadium, Mapusa, under the watchful eyes of head coach Derrick Pereira.
The Green and Whites have been able to retain the core of their squad that finished third in the 2013-14 Airtel I-League, with a couple of re-enforcements to key positions.
The club has currently registered a total of 21 players and are confident of completing the remaining signings over the course of the next couple of weeks.
Salgaocar FC continue to be busy in the transfer market with the latest additions to the squad being the Pune FC duo of Gurjinder Kumar and Othallo Tabia.
Having released all the four foreigners that formed part of the squad last year, the club's first foreign signing of the current season came in the form of midfield playmaker and talisman, Douhou Pierre, who also played for the Red Lizards last season.
"All our recent signings from the Pune based club are players who've played under me in the past and I am confident of bringing out the best in them here at Salgaocar," commented Derrick. The gaffer was visibly pleased at seeing most of his players looking fit and raring to go.
The GFA charity match, the curtain raiser for the season is scheduled for August 17 with the Goa Pro League due to get underway the following day.
"We are about four-weeks away from the commencement of the Pro League and I believe the matches will provide us with the ideal platform to assess ourselves ahead of the Federation Cup in December and the I-League due to begin in January," the coach added.
Besides the three signings, the club has also retained the services of hard-working winger Bikash Jairu, who joined the club in January on loan from Mumbai Tigers FC.
Dawson Fernandes from Sporting Clube de Goa and Goal Keeper Abhijit Das from United SC are the other new additions.
Goalkeeper Albino Gomes and Aslon Oliveira have come through the club's renowned youth development system, whilst Chinmaya Behera and Pawan Kumar have been roped in from the AIFF U-19 Regional Academy, thereby ensuring a good blend between youth and experience.
Goal Keepers: Karanjit Singh, Abhijit Das, Albino Gomes, Chinmaya Sekhar Behera Defenders:Augustin Fernandes, Nicolau Colaco, Gurjinder Kumar, Othallo Tabia, Leny Levis Pereira, Pawan Kumar, Midfielders: Douhou Pierre, Rocus Lamare, Gilbert Oliveira, Clifton Dias, Brian Mascarenhas, Karma Tsewang, Umesh Harijan, Rosario Mendes. Forwards:Dwason Fernandes, Bikash Jairu, Aslon Oliveira.
