Sliema Wanderers’ international striker Ivan Woods (photo right) is not for sale.

Sliema club president Robert Arrigo MP said yesterday that the information carried in the Malta Independent earlier this week that the player is a Valletta target was ‘totally untrue’.

In the Tuesday edition, The Malta Independent had quoted City’s new president Victor Sciriha as saying that he would be launching a bid to sign Woods, who is a former player of Valletta.

With Woods unavailable, Valletta have now redoubled their efforts to get a striker from abroad, possibly from Brazil or Argentina, to play alongside Argentine Sebastian Monesterolo.

Meanwhile Arrigo also said yesterday that Sliema had not talked to Msida’s Nigerian striker Ibrahim Babatunde, thus quashing rumours that the player was close to reaching an agreement with the Blues.

It is known that the striker has been the target of Valletta and Birkirkara as well, but the two clubs seem to have dropped their interest, especially Birkirkara who made it clear they were not prepared to meet his financial demands.

Arrigo added: “We are stuck with Mauro Di Lello (Italian) who has not reported for training with the squad. We are informed that the player came here and left Malta, but no contact with the coach or club officials was made by the player.”

The player’s contract at Sliema still has two more years to expire and unless an agreement is reached by both sides, he will still remain on the club’s books. Sliema already have two other foreigners – Murphy Akanji and Alexsander Mazdar – among their ranks.