The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube Sports Correspondent
HIGHLANDERS’ teenage sensation Prince Dube could be heading across the Limpopo barely in his first year in the Premiership with a South African club reportedly angling for his services. A club plying its trade in the neighbouring country’s National First Division is set to table an offer for the teenager after they watched him destroy Dynamos in last weekend’s Battle of Zimbabwe, a match which Bosso won 2-0. Dube hogged the headlines, turning himself into a darling of the Bosso faithfuls and neutrals when he propelled his team to victory scoring the first before creating the second by Bruce Kangwa but unbeknown to him there was a “suitor’’ approvingly watching from across the Limpopo.
An official with the club that is pulling all the stops to ensure it wins an automatic promotion to the Absa Premiership next season said they were impressed with Dube and would be a tabling an offer next week. The official said it would be premature to identify his club but admitted they will as early as next week table offers for the youngster as they were impressed with ‘’his predatory skills”.
“We watched him play against Dynamos and we have resolved to bring him this side. The good thing is even our coach is in agreement, the boy is good and we can get a gem for ourselves. We feel youngsters will do us good because last year we spent a lot of money bringing in experienced players but we still failed in our bid to make a return to the top flight. We would be engaging Highlanders next week and we hope we will reach an agreement,” he said.
The team, which was previously in the Absa Premiership, is pulling all stops to ensure they would be in the top flight in South Africa at the beginning of the 2017/2018 season, wants Dube to join them next month before the 2016/17 season kicks off.
Highlanders’ chief executive officer, Ndumiso Gumede said while their policy is to allow players to move there would be several factors to consider before allowing the boy to move. He, however, pointed out they believed Dube needed more time to mature before crossing the border.
“We have not received any offers yet but I think he has not fully matured and we feel it might not be to his benefit to move right now but then if the club that wants him says no, we want him as he is and want to mould him themselves we might get talking,’’ said Gumede.
The veteran administrator said they had been advising Dube to watch out for “vultures” who might take advantage of him in the wake of his phenomenal start with the Bosso senior team.
Bosso’s goalkeepers coach and technical director in charge of juniors, Cosmas “Tsano” Zulu said he felt Dube, alongside other juniors, Adrian Silla and Brian Banda needed to build more muscle mass for them to be ready for foreign leagues.
He said the trio were now attending regular gym sessions as he felt they needed more muscle if they are to last the season. Highlanders coach, Erol Akbay has already expressed concern they might lose the player.
Addressing the media on Thursday he said: “He’s one of the best stars in the game and I hope he gets better with each game. If he continues with his current form, we could lose him in the next year or two. I hope he can be in my team for some time so that he works more and achieves more for the team”.
The Young Warriors’ striker was a ball of nerves at the beginning of the season, possibly due to the fact that it was his maiden Premiership appearance, but slowly found his feet as the season wore on. He missed an avalanche of chances at the start of the season and only scored his debut Premiership goal in the third match of the season against Tsholotsho. He then went on to score a brace in the sixth league match against Ngezi Platinum, but it is his volley against old nemesis Dynamos last week that has set tongues wagging.
