PETALING JAYA: For any professional player, not securing their future with a good team is a cause for concern. And Penang playmaker R. Kogileswaran (pic) has been quite a worried man in the past few weeks.
The 25-year-old said that the Panthers have not initiated contract extension talks with him and no other club have shown interest in his services.
The transfer window is open till April 26 but with some clubs already starting pre-season training, the former Cheongbuk Cheongju player is worried that joining a team late will affect his chances of returning to the national team again.
“It’s quite a difficult time for me at the moment, as I haven’t got any offers yet. I hope there will be some teams offering me a deal soon. I have not received any calls from Penang till now to discuss my future,” he said.
“My aim is to get back into the national team. Besides that, I want to score as many goals as I can and help my future team win as many matches as they can. But most of all, I just want to get back to playing football again.”
Kogileswaran moved to South Korea last year but his adventure turned out to be a short-lived one as he only played one game and later joined Penang on a six-month deal.
With the Panthers, he played 12 games, starting in five of them.
Kogileswaran has always been rated as one of the talents to watch in Malaysia when he was part of the Frenz United academy and after joining Pahang in 2016 at the age of 18, he became a regular in the Malaysia Under-23 set-up.
He made his national debut in 2018 and went on to amass eight caps, scoring two goals.
“My career has been good but yes, there are difficult moments that I went through, which only made me stronger. In the good and bad days, I just keep working hard because of my love of football.”
Kogileswaran is currently in India for a pilgrimage, visiting several temples in the southern part of the nation.
He said that religion and spirituality are an important part of his life and have helped him move forward in his career.
“For me, whatever I do, I always put God above all else. I am who I am because of the guidance I have got over the years because of my religion.”
Kogileswaran will be hoping that divine blessings will lead him to a contract soon and hopefully, a return to the Harimau Malaya fold again.
