TRAU FC sign forward duo Thales Lima and Akobir Turaev

The club have now completed their quota of foreign players.

I-league outfit TRAU FC have completed the signing of foreign duo Thales Lima and Akobir Turaev, the club announced on Monday.

Thales Lima comes in with a bag full of experience after plying his trade with multiple clubs throughout his career. He started his professional career in 2006 with Brazilian side Grêmio Barueri. He then moved to another Brazilian club Taubate until the end of 2008-2009 season. The following season, Lima moved out of South America and joined Japanese outfit Roasso Kumamoto.

Between 2010-2016, he played for six Brazilian clubs namely Velo Clube, Osasco FC, Metropolitano, Naviraiense and Grêmio Maringá. In 2017, the Brazilian moved to Thailand and signed for third-division side Samut Sakhon FC. He moved back to Brazil after one season in Thailand and signed for Ríver AC until mid-2018. After the completion of his contract with the Brazilian side, Lima moved back to Thailand and signed with Phrae United.

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In 2019 he joined second divison Thai club Khon Kaen where he scored a lone goal in three matches. Next season he signed for third division side Pattani FC and scored two goals in as many games. After playing just two matches for Pattani, he moved to second division side Uthai Thani FC. For Uthai Thani, he netted three goals in nine appearances. At the end of December 2020, the league rival Udon Thani FC signed him from Uthai Thani FC where he scored five times in 13 appearances.

On the other hand, Akobir Turaev is a former Uzbekistan youth international and joins TRAU FC on a one-year deal. Turaev is deadly in front of the goal and has the experience of playing for multiple clubs in Ukraine and Bangladesh. The 24-year-old first featured for Buxoro in 2013 before moving out on loan to Pakhtakor in 2016. He also featured in Pakhtakor’s 3-0 victory against Al-Jazira in the AFC Champions League. After completing his loan spell with Pakhtakor, he returned to his parent club Buxoro the following season.

Turaev was a part of Buxoro until the end of 2018-19 season. During his time at Buxoro, he scored three goals in 20 matches. In 2019, he set out for a new challenge outside his native country and joined forces with Bangladeshi side Rahmatganj. He scored two goals in 10 matches for the Bangladeshi outfit before returning back to Uzbekistan. He signed for Mash’al in August 2020, but moved to Tajikistan in January 2021 for lack of gametime. The young attacker scored eight goals and provided an assist in 15 appearances for FK Eskhata in the Tajikistan’s top tier.

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TRAU FC’s preparations ahead of the season

After finishing third in the I-league last season, TRAU have started their preparations in full swing ahead of the new season. The club has roped a number of young talents in Bikash Sagolshem, Joysana, Buanthanglun Samte, Timothy Haokip, Roshan Singh, Sarif Khan, Clinton Khuman, and Manash Gogoi. Alongside new additions, the club has also retained Helder Lobato, Bishorjit Singh and Netrajit among others for the upcoming season.

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