Fresh off their capture of Malaysia goalkeeper Khairul Fahmi, the Mousedeers have announced the hiring of E. Elavarasan as their new head coach.

BY ZULHILMI ZAINAL Follow on Twitter

Malaysia Super League (MSL) strugglers Melaka United have appointed former PKNS FC boss Elavarasan Elangowan as head coach.

The club announced the news on Monday, explaining that the 53-year old coach led the team training for the first time on the same day.

The Mousedeers, currently tenth in Malaysia's top tier, gave Portuguese coach Eduardo Almeida a gardening leave early last week, following three defeats in all competitions. Since then they lost two more matches, including a 2-0 away defeat in the league to PKNS FC on Saturday.

Elavarasan is the third head coach the club have had in its employ since almost a year ago. Eduardo's successor Eric Williams was hired before the 2017 season began, their first season back in MSL in ten years, and was sacked later in June.

This will be Elavarasan's second stint at the Mousedeers, as had coached Melaka in 2008 and the following year. He then led Felda United, Terengganu and most recently PKNS.

At PKNS he guided them back to the MSL for the 2016 season, and the 2016 FA Cup final. The team's poor performance in 2017 led to him being let go by the club mid-way through the season.

Earlier on Monday, Melaka also confirmed its signing of Malaysia custodian Khairul Fahmi Che Mat from from Kelantan.