Mannav Permal who played his last match for Navua on Sunday during the group stages of the 2023 Digicel Fiji FACT in Suva says he will forever be indebted to the team officials and fans for all the support them gave him in the last seven years.
Permal, who made his debut for Navua as a 16-year-old in 2016 and was picked in the national team a year later and played under former coach Christophe Gamel is migrating to the United States of America with his family later this month.
“Navua will always be my home. I started off with this team and have seen the struggles we went through and coming to the premier from senior was our biggest achievement.”
“It’s an emotional moment for me as well that I will be leaving this team. I will miss the players because they are like my second family.”
“I’m shifting to the USA and I’ll be taking a lot of memories there with me. Whenever I get time, I’ll return to play for Navua.”
The Wainiveidio native added that in the last five years, his biggest achievement was getting in the best shape.
“There were a lot of struggles like playing against top teams and I felt my weight was a barrier. So I worked on my fitness and lost around 30kg and now I feel very relaxed in the game.”
“Losing weight has helped me to react quickly whenever I get the ball, like reaching out to the goalmouth easily.”
“I’m very thankful to the Navua team for always giving me game time despite the senior and experienced players in the team. The fans have always backed us up whenever we were not doing well in the game.”
