A rumour which had Xewkija Tigers of Gozo making an impressive bid for Birkirkara’s Chucks Nwoko vanished into thin air yesterday when Stripes chairman Victor Zammit told The Malta Independent that the club will not be releasing any of their players, except one.

That will be Alan Tabone, who will be moving in the next few days. He is joining Tarxien Rainbows on loan till the end of the season, and this was purely because he wished to play more regularly.

Zammit added that the Stripes wanted to strengthen the squad, if possible, and not dismantle it. In fact, after landing Etienne Barbara’s signature, they had also attempted to reach agreement with Floriana over the possible transfer of international defender Ian Azzopardi.

But Floriana were adamant that Azzopardi was still needed by the club and they were not prepared to part company with him.

In this respect, the club chairman said they had received some good news in the form of Kenneth Scicluna, who is at present studying in an English University. Scicluna, in fact, will become available for the Stripes in about two months as he is to continue his studies in Malta after that date, that is, near the end of March.

Zammit also said that Serbian goalie Ninos Grlic would hopefully be arriving today after several attempts in the past few days failed because of several factors, including airline staff strikes in Serbia, fog in some airports and visa problems.