Perry Ng feels like he has been a part of the furniture at Cardiff City for an age. Signed in 2021, the right-back has churned out a level of consistency unrivalled among his peer group in the Welsh capital.
This season has been no different. Indeed, stats gurus WhoScored have Ng as the best-performing right-back in the Championship this term — he has an average score rating of 7.2/10 — and have him in the team of the season so far. It's a shame, then, that he is not allowed to take those talents and showcase them on the international stage.
Cardiff stars Callum Robinson (Republic of Ireland), Manolis Siopis, Dimitrios Goutas (both Greece), Alex Runarsson (Iceland), Romaine Sawyers (St Kitts and Nevis) and Rubin Colwill (Wales under-21s) have all been called up for international duty this week, however Ng, who is desperate to represent Singapore, is currently stuck at the Bluebirds' training base. Ng qualifies for Singapore through his paternal grandfather and has been fighting to represent the Asian country for years to no avail. The Singapore FA have confirmed that Ng is eligible to play for them through family links, however because he is not a Singapore citizen he has to fulfil a number of criteria and apply for citizenship before he can don the shirt. Essentially, it means Ng having to give up his British passport.
PERRY NG:
"It's confusing for me," "I've had contact with [the Singapore FA]. We all want to get it done, but I have to change my British citizenship to a Singapore citizenship. I'd have to give up my passport and there's a lot of legal stuff involved which is very difficult at the minute.
"We are trying to see what we can do and hopefully we can make it happen. I'm trying to get it going now, but there's a lot of stuff holding it up. I was over there in the summer and everything is ready to go on their side. It's just stuff with my passport and how it would affect me here, which I'm not quite sure of at the minute, so hopefully I can get it solved. I'd love to do it."
The 27-year-old has been stuck in this cycle for years now but the burning desire to play for Singapore is still swirling within him. It's nothing to do with the prestige of playing international football, though of course that is creditable. For Ng, it's all about doing his grandfather proud. But, as Ng admits, he is a bit of an outlier in the footballing world, because none of his family are that fussed about football.
"It's more doing it for my family: doing it for my grandad, that's what's important to me," he added. "I go over most summers to see my family. There are loads of them there. I go and see my cousins, aunties, uncles, I love it there. They've never seen me play live, so it would be nice to go over there and represent them and they could come and watch me.
"None of my family like football! My dad comes and watches me, every game, and people ask him about me and he doesn't have a clue about any of it. He used to take me to Liverpool every week and he couldn't tell you any of the players. He used to fall asleep!"
Ng insists that Singapore are no novelty act. The Lions are currently ranked 157th in the world, sandwiched between Afghanistan and Yemen, but the Bluebirds defender was shocked by just how good they actually were when he went to train with them. With him, and Sunderland's Luke O'Nien who finds himself in a similar position to Ng, they could really bolster the ranks.
"A few years ago I went and I trained with them when I was on holiday and I was shocked, actually, at how good they were," he said. "I didn't think it would be a great standard, but it was very good. I think a lot of the lads there play in the Thai league or Malaysian league. I think they'd shock a few people with how good they are."
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