Former Muang Thong United striker Cleiton Silva looks set to return to Thai League 1 and his likely destination next season is Chiang Rai United.
Rumours about the Brazilian's return to the Thai league began a couple of weeks ago following a Facebook post by Chiang Rai United president Miti Tiyapairat, telling the fans to wait for the "good news" about his "dream" striker.
Several news outlets reported that Chiang Rai were favourites to sign the striker and the deal appears to have been finalised as the Brazilian has posted a farewell message to his Chinese club, Shanghai Shenxin, on his Instagram account.
"I want to thank Shanghai Shenxin for the great opportunity to be part of this club in the last season. Special thanks to the coach and all staffs. I want to wish the club good luck in 2018 season," wrote Cleiton.
The 30-year-old Cleiton joined the Chinese League One club from Muang Thong earlier this year and scored 17 goals in 26 matches.
Meanwhile, Thailand U23 head coach Zoran Jankovic has said the team are training hard for the AFC U23 Championship in China next month. "Things look better now because we have all our main players, who weren't released by their clubs for the M-150 Cup, back in the team."
Jankovic also shrugged off criticism of the team's poor performance at this month's M-150 Cup where they finished fourth, saying the event was only meant "to test the players".
The team will play a warm-up match against Pattaya United this evening. They will head off to China on Jan 3.
