DeMbare reject Gamecocks offer

By Eddie Chikamhi

A protracted battle is looming between Dynamos and Premiership football rivals Chicken Inn over midfielder Valentine Kadonzvo after the Glamour Boys rejected the Gamecocks’ offer to regularise the player’s move.

The Harare giants, who claim that they were tricked into releasing the player last month, are demanding $8 000 from their Premiership rivals.

Kadonzvo’s contract with Dynamos was set to expire at the end of the year but was given a clearance letter after he claimed he wanted to go and study in the United States on a scholarship programme.

However, the 25-year-old resurfaced at Chicken Inn a few days later where he was offered a fresh two-year contract.

Irked by the prospects of losing the player for free, Dynamos called Chicken Inn to the negotiating table and demanded $8 000 for the player’s services.

The Gamecocks, however, maintained the player was a free agent when they signed him but have reportedly offered $3 000 to settle the matter. Dynamos’ public relations executive Tinashe Farawo yesterday confirmed the negotiations with Chicken Inn.

“We are in talks with Chicken Inn. We made our position clear to them and they made a counter-offer which we feel is still below the value of the player. Kadonzvo is worth $8 000 and we cannot accept anything below that.

“Technically, he is still our player because he got that clearance fraudulently. He presented to the club falsified acceptance letter from Boston University and accompanying proof that he was going to study at the said university.

“Whether Chicken Inn were involved or not, we now believe the young man is such a fraudster. We checked with the said university to see if they indeed had offered him a place to study on a scholarship and they professed ignorance.

“The question now is, where did he get the Boston University letterhead and all other related material that he presented to Dynamos?

“In fact, the same university revealed there are many African players who are using the same trick in different parts of Africa to get privileges to go to America.

“We want to promote transparency and honest in football.

“So we have put an $8 000 price tag on the player and if they are serious they will have to pay that amount. Otherwise we will not play ball in further clearance processes and as a result the player will be grounded this year, which is not good. Football is also business, we are even prepared to negotiate for a loan deal.

“We appreciate that probably he was no longer interested in playing for Dynamos and that was not a problem with us.

“We have already cleared several players in the last few months and we believe everyone who wanted to go was given the greenlight to leave. So what we are only saying is things must be done properly and in a professional manner,” said Farawo.

Kadonzvo was one of the few players that the club had hoped to retain following an exodus that claimed almost an entire squad from last season.

Chicken Inn have also signed another former Dynamos player Phakamani Dube. Midfielder Brett Amidu, who was on loan at Dynamos from FC Platinum last year, has also crossed the floor to join the Gamecocks.

Dynamos, on the other hand, are involved in a familiar rebuilding exercise and this year they will have a virtually new-look squad under coach Lloyd Chigowe.

DeMbare, however, have been threatened by lack of sponsorship as negotiations with NetOne, who bankrolled the club last year, are still to bear fruit.

Farawo also revealed plans by the Glamour Boys to tour South Africa and Malawi next month as part of their pre-season training.

“The negotiations with our prospective sponsors are still on-going. Once everything is in place, the chairman (Isaiah Mupfurutsa) will communicate officially.

“We are hopeful that everything is going to work out well and like I said before we are working on cleaning our image to make the Dynamos brand attractive.

“We are happy with the rebuilding exercise and the coach will be given maximum support under the circumstances. And to demonstrate our seriousness, we have outlined plans to tour South Africa and Malawi mid-March. We would want to make sure that by the time the season starts, we would have done everything to make our side competitive,” said Farawo. The Chronicle