Jakarta. The Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) plans to recruit two more foreign players, adding to the already crowded naturalized players in the national team.

Arya Sinulingga, a member of the PSSI Executive Committee, said on Tuesday the two players will soon join the Garuda team, but he declined to reveal their identities.

“Mr. Chairman (Erick Thohir) has confirmed that two more [foreign] players are in the process of joining us in the near future,” Arya said in Jakarta.

Asked if one of them is Calvin Verdonk from the Ducth club NEC, Arya declined to confirm.

"I cannot comment on Calvin. As long as he’s not in Indonesia, we can’t speculate or promise anything because we have the process to follow," he said.

Amid mounting public debate about the dominating number of naturalized players in the national squad, Arya claimed that the local players have no objection to playing alongside them.

The PSSI prioritizes local players with exceptional skill to join the national team, such as Ramadhan Sananta who is currently the top scorer in Liga 1, he said. 

The decision to hire foreign players is exclusively the prerogative of Coach Shin Tae-Yong, who so far has always accepted new, naturalized players recommended by the PSSI, Arya added.

The national team deployed 10 naturalized players when Indonesia defeated Vietnam in Jakarta and Hanoi in the World Cup qualifiers last month. 

They included Jay Idzes, Justin Hubner, Nathan Tjoe-A-On, Jordi Amat, Sandy Walsh, Ivar Jenner, Marc Klok, Thom Haye, Rafael Struick, and Ragnar Oratmangoen.

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