KUALA LUMPUR: The M-League could be called a ‘retirement home’ due to the influx of aging foreign players to Malaysia this season.
Statistically, 45 of 108 (or 48.6 per cent) of foreign signings in the M-League can be labeled as veterans.
While experience can be an asset to players, the fear is that they have already past their primes to perform well.
This is one of many reasons team opt to replace foreign players during the mid-season transfer window.
From the 60 foreigners in the Super League, 26 are above the age of 30 with Johor Darul Ta'zim's Luciano Figueroa being the oldest at 36 and Negri Sembilan's Kim Do-heon (35) the second oldest.
In the Premier League, 19 of 48 foreign signings are above the age of 30 with three — Penang's Ugo Ukah, UiTM FC's Dao Bakary and Sarawak's Kim Chigon — at 34, being the oldest.
In the Super League, Perak have registered the most imports above 30. They are Robert Cornthwaite (32), Leandro Dos Santos (31), Wander Luiz (30) and Misagh Bahadoran (31) while Gilmar is already 29.
Three other teams have registered three imports above 30.
Kedah have Sandro Mendonca (34), Alvaro Silva (33) and Pablo Pallares (31) while Melaka have Tiago Filipe (32), Steven Gary (31) and Jeon Woo-young (30).
Perak SEDC also have three imports above 30 - Clovis Franklin (32), Luben Gueorguiev (32) and Ritus Krjauklis (31).
PKNS FC are the only team in the Super League without imports in their 30s.
In the Premier League there are three teams with three players above 30.
Kuantan FA (Andre Francisco Williams — 32, Zarko Korac —30, and Alexandru Tudose — 30, Penang (Ukah — 34, Kang Seung-jo — 32 and Ken Ilso — 31 while Sarawak (Kim Chig-on — 34, Nebojsa Marinkovic — 31 and Mateo Roskam — 30). Police and UiTM are the only Premier League teams without imports above 30 this season.