Valentine have completed their recruitment for next year's Northern NSW NPL with the signing of Spanish attacker Fortia Munts.
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Phoenix made contact with Munts on the recommendation of American Jalon Brown, who was the NNSW NPL player of the year in 2017 when with Valentine.
Brown played alongside Munts at Lionsbridge FC in America's USL League Two.
Munts this year played at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he earned a spot on the All-Atlantic 10 second team.
Valentine co-coach Darren Sills said the recommendation of Brown and the quality of a highlights video were enough for the club to recruit Munts, who will fly home to Barcelona this week to spend Christmas with his family before coming to Australia in mid-January.
"Jalon's words were that you can't get the ball off him at training," Sills said.
"He's an exciting player, he's a good dribbler of the ball and he's desperate to get here.
"He's heard so much about the club and he can't wait to get here."
Munts also played for CF Gava in the Spanish third division and was a member of the Catalonian under-14, 16 and 18 national teams.
Phoenix had already added former A-League players Adam Hughes (Charlestown) and Alex Read (Maitland), as well as ex-Jaffas defender Dain Greentree, in the hope of climbing back up the ladder in 2020.
Valentine narrowly missed the finals in 2017 but claimed the wooden spoon in 2018. They finished 10th, a point in front of bottom side Adamstown, this year.
