Ex-Warriors captain Deco on Ngezi radar

Fungai Muderere, Senior Sports Reporter 

FORMER Warriors and Chicken Inn captain Danny “Deco” Phiri has reportedly been training with Mhondoro-based Ngezi Platinum Stars with sources in the Madamburo camp indicating that the holding midfielder might soon put pen to paper.

This follows Phiri’s successful shedding off of a knee injury that was recently aggravated in Tanzania where he had a brief stint with the East African country’s side, Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) after parting ways with South Africa’s Golden Arrows. 

Phiri (33) was compelled to retrace his steps to Zimbabwe early this year and his predicament was compounded by the fact that he will not be able to play outside the country after Zifa was suspended by Fifa over Government interference, a situation which will affect a number of players, who will not be able to move to foreign clubs. 

The gritty midfielder was previously in the books of Chicken Inn and he joined South Africa’s Golden Arrows in 2016 from Gamecocks and amassed 97 games for Abafana Besi’thende across all competitions in his defensive midfield role.

Earlier on into South Africa’s 2020/2021 season the player suffered a career-threatening knee injury and doctors told him he would not play again, but bounced back after five months on the sidelines and did duty for  Golden Arrows.

He left the KwaZulu-Natal-based Abafana Bes’thende in  August together with ex-Warriors imposing goalkeeper Edmore “ZiKepeer” Sibanda and quickly moved to DTB, a club that competes in the second-tier division in Tanzania. He parted ways with Arrows when he was three matches shy of making his 100th appearance.

“He has been training with Ngezi Platinum in the past few weeks. The coaches are still assessing him and helping him to gain his fitness levels. In actual fact, they seem to be impressed by Phiri’s style of play. Emphasis has been that they want him to guide some youngsters that are in the team,” said a Ngezi Platinum insider. 

Ahead of the opening of the mid-season transfer window last Friday, Ngezi Platinum Stars coach Benjani Mwaruwari told our sister paper B-Metro that he wanted to sign a holding midfielder and three forwards. 

“Chances of us beefing up our squad are very high but we need to be very careful and make sure we bring people that we really want. I’m aiming to bring on board four to five players. In short, we are in a hunt for a defensive midfielder and wingers. We are looking for players that have energy and one seasoned player who still has the power and will to teach the youngsters how it’s done,” said Mwaruwari ahead of their Week 19 league tie against Bulawayo football giants Highlanders. — @Fungai Muderere.