Witan Sulaeman Follows In Egy Maulana Vikri's Footsteps, 'Pulang Kampung' From Europe By Joining Persija Jakarta

Witan Sulaeman joins Persija Jakarta. (Photo: Doc. Persija Jakarta)

JAKARTA Witan Sulaeman has officially become a Persija Jakarta player. He has been registered by the Kemayoran Tigers to navigate the rest of the Indonesian League 1 season 2022/2023.

Persija in a statement on the club's official website has confirmed the recruitment of the Indonesian national team player. He is the fifth player to be brought in to increase the depth of the Thomas Doll squad.

"Witan will be in red uniform for Persija for the next 3.5 years or 42 months," Persija wrote in an official statement on Tuesday, January 31, 2023 morning.

It's just that the Kemayoran Tigers did not specify the mechanism to get the player's signature. In fact, the 21-year-old player is known to have been under contract with Slovak club FK Trencin for 2 years or only expires in June 2024.

The player born in Palu is a football school dropout at the Ragunan Education and Training Center. His talent was later monitored by the Indonesian U-19 national team coach Indra Sjafri at that time so he was summoned into the Garuda squad.

Witan initially plunged into professional football in the 2019 period. At that time he played for PSIM Yogyakarta who competed in Liga 2 Indonesia.

In 2020 Witan left PSIM to experience professional football life in Europe by joining the Serbian FK team Radnik Surdulica. There he did not get the opportunity to play there, only two appearances with a total of 71 minutes.

A year later, he joined Polish club Lechia Gda pathsk. However, just half a season ago and he had not had time to appear, Witan was loaned to Slovak club FK Senica.

Witan's record at FK Senica stood out. He appeared to defend his club 12 times, scored four goals, and provided one assist. After his loan spell at FK Senica on May 11, 2022, Witan moved to another Slovak club, namely AS Trencin.

While in AS Trencin, Witan played 14 times, with a record of four goals in 458 minutes. Apart from having a good record during his career at the club level, Witan is also a national team subscription.

Witan has debuted in the Indonesian national team since he was 15 years and seven months old when he appeared in Indonesia for the U-19 age group. Until now, Witan has presented the 2019 AFF U-22 trophy, the 2019 SEA Games silver medal, and the runner-up for the 2020 AFF Cup.