EXCLUSIVE: Wellington’s Troy Hearfield and Mariner Chris Doig have signed loan deals with Indonesian outfit Pelita Jaya, who are coached by Aussie Misha Radovic and bankrolled by billionaire Nirwan Bakrie.
Hearfield, 23, is set to depart after his New Zealand club finish their A-League finals campaign over the next month.
Similarly Doig, 30, will head to Jakarta at the conclusion of the Mariners’ commitments to join the Indonesian Super League (ISL) side.
The Jakarta based club have already inked a one year deal with Malaysian star Mohd Safee and are looking to sign another A-League player - most likely a striker - as well as a player from the Dutch league.
The ISL is currently in its mid-season break with fixtures set to resume in the first week of March.
Radovic has used the break to replace the existing five visa players at the club as he seeks to lift Pelita out of the bottom three.
He sees the A-League as the ideal competition to find the right sort of player to boost his youthful squad nicknamed the “Young Guns”.
The ISL season finishes in the third week of June however there is speculation the club may try to retain Doig following this loan spell.
“These two players Doig and Hearfield will fit in well and this is a great opportunity for them to test themselves in a new league,” Radovic told au.fourfourtwo.com.
Radovic heads to Indonesia tomorrow (Thursday). The former Red Star Belgrade player and UEFA ‘A’ licenced coach, took over Pelita Jaya last November after they parted ways with Singaporean coach Fandi Ahmad.
The former defender played for the famed Belgrade club in the late 1970s and 80s before moving to Australia 20 years ago.
Hearfield has played 26 times for Phoenix this season as the Kiwi club once again made the A-League finals.
Doig, an ex-Nottingham Forest and Northampton Town favourite, has been kept out of a regular starting berth at Bluetongue due to the stellar form of Mariners central defensive duo Alex Wilkinson and Patrick Zwaanswijk. But the former Scottish U/21 is highly regarded by the Mariners coaching staff and is tipped to do star in football mad Indonesia.
Former Aston Villa star Lee Hendrie has also signed for an Indonesian club in recent weeks inking a deal with Bandung in the breakaway Liga Premira Indonesia.
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