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Latiff Who, Asks Bogor Club Team coach denies tabloid report that it was having talks with him There are more sharp twists and turns in the Ahmad Latiff Khamarudin travel tales than in a Grand Prix circuit. In the latest sequel, a second overseas club - Persikabo Kabupaten Bogor (Persikabo) - has denied offering him a contract. To recap, Latiff quit the national team preparing for the pre-World Cup tournament after telling the Football Association of Singapore that he was going to try out with a Dutch Division One side Roda JC Kerkrade. The 21-year-old left Singapore two weeks ago, ostensibly for Holland. But a Timesport check with the club on Thursday disclosed that he was not there. It had not heard of him, let alone expect him to go and join them for training. Yesterday, Timesport quoted an Indonesian tabloid Bola which quoted him as saying that he was keen on playing there. It also added that Persikabo, which was promoted after winning the First Division title - was planning to sign him for the new season which starts early next month. It even mentioned that Latiff was to be paid about $1,000 a month, about a quarter what he could command from an S-League side, and accommodation. But Persikabo's head coach, Herry Kiswanto, denied any knowledge of Latiff signing with his team. Said Kiswanto in Bahasa Indonesia: 'I only know that he was linked with the club from the Bola article. 'I know of Latiff but neither my club manager nor I have met with or spoken to him. 'There are two teams in Bogor, the other one is just newly formed and is not in the league. Perhaps he may have signed for them. 'As far as I know, he is not in my team.' The Bola article had mentioned that Latiff was invited to play in Indonesia by Mirwan Suwarso, who is the commercial manager for leading Indonesian internationals Kurniawan Dwi Yulianto, Rochy Putiray and Bambang Pamungkas. However when contacted by Timesport on Thursday, Suwarso denied any knowledge of Latiff going to Indonesia. So where is Latiff? No one seems to know. Not the Singapore Armed Forces FC, not the FAS, not Roda, not Persikabo, not his supposed agent. The only thing that is definite is his one-year contract with SAFFC for next season. However, the club is prepared to let him off if he should find success in Europe. This is the latest episode in Latiff's relatively short but colourful career. In 1998, he was fined by then-Geylang coach Douglas Moore for playing for another team without permission in the Singapore Cricket Club Sevens. During his national service last year, he was sentenced to five days' detention after skipping national pre-Olympic training. And, just before the pre-Tiger Cup training tour to Australia this year, he was fined for indiscipline. source: The Strait Times
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