The 2012/13 season has not finished yet but Division One club St Andrew’s have already pulled off a significant transfer coup after completing the signing of highly-rated Brazilian midfielder William Barbosa.

Barbosa has agreed a two-year contract to take over as player-coach of St Andrew’s who have acted swiftly to replace Wayne Attard after the latter stepped down at the end of the Division One league campaign.

With Barbosa regarded as one of the best foreign players in the Premier League, news of his exit from Valletta is likely to be met with surprise but the challenge of venturing into coaching while extending his playing career persuaded him to join St Andrew’s after the Citizens decided not to extend his contract.

“I want to thank Valletta for giving me the opportunity in the last two years to show who I am both as a person and as a player,” Barbosa told Times of Malta.

“My contribution in the last two years came from the heart. I’d like to thank the fans and Alex Fenech (Valletta vice-president) for their support.

“The choice of Luxol as my next club was not difficult. They have an important project and I know that at Luxol, I can work with tranquility together with the rest of the club.

“I’m keen to demonstrate my abilities and start a coaching career but there’s a lot to do.”

Barbosa is eyeing a sustained push for Premier League promotion next season after St Andrew’s finished fifth in Division One.

“That’s our principal objective,” Barbosa replied when asked about the club’s pro-motion ambitions.

“To achieve that, we must work very hard. We need to exploit all those factors that can boost our cause, also knowing that we will be playing half of our league games at our stadium next season.”

Barbosa, who intends to start his coaching courses soon, believes that 20 years as a professional footballer will stand him in good stead in his new role.

“I signed my first professional contract in Brazil when I was only 14,” Barbosa said.

“It’s been a great journey as I’ve also played in Brazil, Germany, Holland, Spain and Switzerland.

“In the 12 years I spent in Italy, I’ve worked with many coaches and I always had this stimulus to become a coach myself.

“It’s difficult to say whether I will do a good job or not but I will give my all. In my career, I have always given my heart and soul to every club I played for.”

After helping Valletta win the title last year, Barbosa had high hopes of repeating that success this season but admitted that the team failed to deliver on their promise under Mark Miller.

“My first year at Valletta was fantastic,” the former Martina and Verona forward said.

“It took me some time to adapt to Maltese football but in December (2011) we really kicked on.

“We succeeded in winning the league title with four games to spare and, on a personal note, I won three awards and was voted player of the year by the Valletta fans.

“This season, I found it difficult to adjust to the coach’s mentality.

“It’s hard to explain what has gone wrong. We’ve worked hard but we failed to reach our objective and that shows that, somewhere, there was a problem. We have lost seven games and dropped points against teams in the lower part of the standings.

“In my opinion, this group of players was not handled well.”

Steve Abela, the president of St Andrew’s FC, was understandably delighted that his efforts to lure Barbosa had paid off.

“After our first year in Division One, we made a few valid acquisitions last season,” Abela said.

“During my discussions with the other club officials, I stressed the importance of targeting valid players who can make a difference and help our young players mature thanks to their leadership qualities on the pitch.

“When Wayne Attard informed us of his intention to step down, we started to weigh up our options and I immediately showed an interest in William Barbosa.

“When Valletta indicated to William that his contract will not be extended, we offered him this dual role.

“The next step for us was to bring in a leader on the pitch and a full-time coach and with Barbosa, we have hit both targets.”

Although St Andrew’s have plans to strengthen their squad, Abela reaffirmed the club’s policy to rely on their youth players.

“The philosophy of this club is to produce homegrown players and that will n ot change,” Abela said.

News that St Andrew’s have acquired Barbosa also brought a smile to the face of Kevin Buttigieg, the CEO of Remax Malta, one of the main club sponsors.

“One of the reasons we chose to sponsor Luxol is because of our relationship with Steve (Abela),” Buttigieg said.

“Luxol have good facilities and a great youth academy. We wanted to start from the roots rather than jump on the bandwagon of a winning club.”