Birkirkara continued to strengthen their ranks with the signing of Emerson Marcelina from Premier League rivals Floriana, yesterday.

Stripes coach Giovanni Tedesco is a known admirer of Marcelina having worked with the Brazilian at the Greens last season and this summer he urged his new club to try and lure the defender to their fold.

Birkirkara and Floriana had been in talks for Marcelina for a while and last week it seemed that the Stripes had missed out on their target after their offer was rejected.

However, the 2015 FA Trophy winners returned with an improved offer which was accepted, paving the way for Marcelina to put pen to paper on a three-year contract.

Marcelina is the second former Floriana player joining Birkirkara in the off-season following Slovenian striker Vito Plut.

Visa problems

Last night, a contingent of Birkirkara players and officials left for London ahead of tomorrow’s Europa League second qualifying round, first leg, against West Ham.

Reports suggested that Birkirkara players Nikola Vukanac and Edin Murga did not travel with the rest of the squad to London as they had to fly out to Paris to apply for a UK visa.

The situation echoes that faced by Valleta who also had to send four of their foreigners to France to secure a visa ahead of their Europa League match against Welsh side Newton AFC earlier this month.

Meanwhile Valletta decided to part ways with Thierry Tazemeta.

The Cameroon striker was taken on board last month as Valletta looked to make inroads in this season’s Europa League qualifiers. However, Tazemeta struggled to leave his mark.

Tazemeta did not play against Newtown AFC in the Europa League first qualifying round away leg but was in the squad for the return last week.

He marked his first start with a goal but Valletta still failed to pro-gress as they went down 2-1 on the night, bowing out 4-2 on aggregate.