Rodrigo Pereira is back at Birkirkara FC. Yesterday, the Brazilian defender agreed to rejoin the Stripes until the end of the season.

For the 31-year-old centre-back this will be his second spell with the current Premier League joint-leaders after having formed part of Paul Zammit’s squad during the 2011-12 season, making 36 appear-ances and scoring six goals.

Pereira started pre-season with the Stripes in summer and formed part of the team that played Mace-donia’s Metalurg Skopje in the Europa League qualifiers.

However, in August he decided to leave as he wanted to consider other offers outside Malta.

It seems, the opportunities that Pereira had for the rest of the season did not satisfy his ambition though and he returned earlier this month and had a few training sessions with Birkirkara before signing his new contract.

Now, that a new deal is in place, Pereira is expected to make his first appearance against Balzan tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the Stripes have also stepped up their efforts to bring in cover to their forward line and a Spanish striker is expected to join them later this week.

Zammit knows he will have front-man Joselito out long-term with ankle trouble while Nigerian Shola Haruna Shodiya faces another three weeks on the side-lines with a quadricep injury.

Birkirkara are hopeful of tying up a deal for the 24-year-old Spaniard in time for him to make his debut in the FA Trophy third-round tie against Tarxien Rain-bows on December 1.