Football
Paul Murphy 7y

Sarach Yooyen, Cleiton Silva out of Muang Thong United ACL campaign

Thai champions Muang Thong United have been dealt a double blow ahead of Tuesday's AFC Champions League (ACL) opener at Brisbane Roar, with prolific striker Cleiton Silva set for a move to China and midfield dynamo Sarach Yooyen ruled out with a broken ankle.

Muang Thong fans were stunned earlier this week when the club's ACL squad list was released and did not feature Silva. News later emerged that Chinese second-tier side Shanghai Shenxin were in negotiations over a deal for the former BEC Tero Sasana striker.

And on Friday night, insult was added to injury when Sarach was on the wrong end of a nasty challenge from Sukhothai's Pichit Jaibun in a Thai League match. The Thai international midfielder suffered a broken ankle and is likely to be out for four to six months, ruling him out of the ACL Group E campaign, as well as the upcoming 2018 AFC World Cup qualifiers against Saudi Arabia and Japan.

Silva's departure is expected to be sealed in the next few days, with a Thai record transfer fee in the region of US$2.8m rumoured to be the price.

The Thai League's top scorer in 2012 and 2016, the Brazilian is widely considered the country's most successful foreign player off all-time. His career in Thailand started as a 23-year-old with Osotspa back in 2010. He then made his name at BEC Tero Sasana with two high-scoring seasons in 2012 and 2013.

A move to Queratero in Mexico followed, but things never really worked out for him there, and he was soon loaned out to the now-defunct Delfines.

Halfway through the 2014 season, Muang Thong struck a deal to bring Silva back to Thailand, and he picked up where he left off by scoring regularly. He netted 25 league goals in 2015, and 27 in 2016 as the Kirins regained the title.

Last year, Silva became the first foreign striker to score 100 Thai League goals and leaves on a total of 119. He signed off in style with a goal in last weekend's 4-0 win at Bangkok Glass. Silva was given a brief substitute appearance in Friday's 1-0 victory over Sukhothai, and said his farewells to the fans after the match.

Losing such a reliable and prolific striker leaves a significant gap to fill. It will now be up to Xisco Jimenez, Teerasil Dangda and Adisak Kraisorn to provide the goals.

30-year-old Silva may now never have the chance to play in the ACL. But at his age, the player and the club may have felt that this was too good a deal to turn down.

Bangkok United playmaker Mario Gjurovksi played alongside Silva for 18 months at Muang Thong United and paid tribute to his former teammate.

"Cleiton is a fantastic player and a legend in Thai football," Gjurovski told ESPN FC. "He has already won everything here but it would good to see him come back to Thailand in a couple of years.

"Muang Thong United will miss him a lot as he is a player who gets them 25 goals a season but they can fix that by getting a player of similar quality -- probably a foreigner."

As news of Silva's imminent departure filtered out, so did rumours that Muang Thong would move to replace him with another Brazilian in Heberty Fernandes. Heberty scored 65 league goals in two-and-a-half years at Ratchaburi, before an ill-fated move to Al-Shabab in Saudi Arabia last year.

Heberty's stay in Saudi ended in controversy, with claims of non-payment, and he is now without a club.

Whether or not Heberty arrives, it is too late for him to join the ACL campaign. Muang Thong are significantly weakened by the loss of Silva and Sarach ahead of the trip to Queensland to face the team who conquered Carlos Tevez's Shanghai Shenhua in a China playoff earlier this month.

^ Back to Top ^