Sliema W. yesterday confirmed that they were still awaiting the arrival of the clearance certificate of Brazilian striker Carlos Eduardo Ventura.

The latter is expected to be their third foreigner after leaving a good impression in a trial over the past few days. He will be replacing Alexsandar Madzar in the Sliema line-up as the latter had failed to deliver the goods.

Earlier this month, Sliema signed another Brazilian, the well known Andre Rocha da Silva, who had played for Floriana, Hibernians and Marsaxlokk, before this latest move. He replaced injured Serbian midfielder Milovanovic.

Sliema had hoped to get Ventura’s clearance in time for the player to make his debut with the Blues in tomorrow’s match against Mqabba.

Known as Duda, he is a product of Brazilian club Corinthians Alagoana, but in the last six years, he has been plying his trade in Portugal where he has played for Benfica, Rio Ave, Porto, Alverca and, quite recently, Boavista.

He had also scored a goal against Roma in a European Cup match some seasons ago. He had also played against Hibernians in the second qualifying round of the Champions League in the summer of 2002.