Mosta president George Galea (right) with technical director Mario Muscat. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier
Mosta presented their squad for the 2020-21 season as well as changes within the technical area as part of a long-term plan revolving around a future professional status.
Mosta president George Galea said the changes made will build a team without any big names and any pressure especially during these tough times brought about by COVID-19.
The Blues have brought in a mixture of foreign and local players, including former Hibernians duo Clayton Failla, most recently with Ħamrun Spartans, and Johan Bezzina who arrives on loan from Birkirkara. The club also confirmed the extension of Mathias Muchardi, Stéphane Bitseki and Rafael Morisco.
Video: Chris Sant Fournier
Technical director Mario Muscat emphasised that all the members of the technical staff will be at the club full-time. Introducing the club’s new coach Davor Filipovic, Muscat said the Croatian will be responsible of both the senior squad and the Under-19s.
“Our Under-19s have finished first twice in the last two years and we’ve got a lot of promising talent. In fact, during our preseason friendlies, we’ve included six or seven players into the senior team and they’ve played regularly because we believe they can become an integral part of the club,” Muscat said.
Muscat highlighted two main goals, saying that their short-term objective was to have an organised team which is disciplined ahead of the most difficult season for all the years he has been involved in football.
“This will be the most difficult season both because four teams will get relegated and because all the other teams will be prepared with their acquisitions and their aim to stay in the Premier League,” the former Malta international said.
Stadium project
“So our short-term goal is to confirm our position in the top flight as quickly as possible, introduce our youth and hopefully place high in the standings.
“Speaking about long-term, we have many plans involving our prominent young players, six of whom are in the national team structures, and who will eventually be our team’s regular players. I think that soon we will be able to challenge for the top honours as well as try to qualify for European competition.”
Also part of their plans is the stadium project which president Galea explained is currently stagnated as the club waits for the help needed to proceed.
“As we have always said, projects like this are the salvation of many clubs and, you can say, Maltese football,” Galea said.
“With it, we can switch to the full-time system and truly allow Maltese teams to compete on a professional level. This is one of the most important things if the authorities really want to improve local sport.”
Asked about how these new players can gel with the rest of the squad, Muscat said that one of the ideas was to create a nucleus of players that vary in age and level of football.
“We brought in players like Johann Bezzina and Clayton Failla with whom I’ve played at Hibernians and so I know what they can offer to the team. Then we’ve got the younger players where we did not just put any boy out there, but the players all have great potential,” he explained.
“Obviously, we’ve changed our mentality, we’re trying to change the system and also the formation.
“We’ve got a number of new players added to the ones we had last year so there might be a bit of uncertainty in the beginning, but I believe we are on the right track and that the players will adapt to our system for the new season.”
