Persia Jakarta have brought in four new foreign players to compete in Ligue 1 for the 2023/2024 season. These are Ryo Matsumura (Japan), Marko Simic (Croatia), Maciej Gajos (Poland) and Oliver Bias (Philippines), who followed Ondrej Kudela (Czech Republic).
Coach Thomas Doll has an estimate of four imported names. He believed that Oliver Bias, who was the last to join, would take time to physically prepare before he finally joined the squad. In the match against Persita (07/22/2023), his name was not included in the application list (DSP).
“Actually, I think it’s too early to judge them all. Especially Oliver (Beas) who just joined. I think he needs time to really be ready. He will now be with Paul Keenan (physical trainer) to strengthen his physique first. Maybe he will come on as a substitute first,” Thomas said.
Thomas appreciated that Marko Simic could help Persia step by step. Thomas added that the most important thing for Simic was playing time. Until the fourth week, Simić appeared twice with a set of two balls.
“Of course it’s important for Marco to play again because he hasn’t played that much in the last two years. Based on this condition, it was not easy because he played less minutes when he joined this team. But after he scored another goal against Bhayangkara (16.07.2023), feeling for him to score, he starts coming back,” Thomas said.
Meanwhile, Japanese foreigner Ryo Matsumura received the most praise. Ryo appears regularly with Persia this season.
“He already had experience with Persis. So he already knows a lot about football here. He can play in different positions and so far he has played quite well against Rico (Simanjuntak) in attack,” said the former Borussia Dortmund coach.
On the other hand, Polish midfielder Maciej Gajos, who played two matches, is considered a player with experience. Thomas believes that Gajos can go through a period of adjustment well.
“He is a midfielder who likes to play in attack. But even he needed time to comprehend everything here. Maciej (Gaios) fought twice, but I have to watch his reaction at every training session. But I’m sure he’ll handle it well,” Thomas said.
“So I emphasize that this team needs a little more time to really come together and become a cohesive team. We really put a lot of effort into this,” he said.