A surprised Kim Swee said the two pillars of the Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) team must have thought about retiring for a long time before making the decision.

“For me, it’s a big loss. We must respect their decision as they must have discussed it with their families before making a decision,” he said in a statement released by the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) today.

Kim Swee said that his immediate task was to find their replacements and he would be monitoring players in the Super League and the Malaysia Cup matches.

“However, should the duo decide to make a return to the national team, we will reassess them, based on performance.”

Aidil Zafuan made the announcement in a statement posted on the Facebook of Johor Southern Tigers. Safiq did the same one hour later.

Both the players reportedly said they wanted to make way for new blood.