The Sunday News
Fungai Muderere, Sports Reporter
UNSETTLED Warriors defender Lawrence Mhlanga has reportedly cost himself a chance to attend trials at Absa Premiership side Maritzburg United as the South African team is said to be confused on which local club to deal with.
Mhlanga is entangled in a row between parent club Chicken Inn and Zvishavane based FC Platinum. The defender, who for the past three months has showed that he wants out at Chicken Inn, recently went back to Zvishavane where he has been training with his “preferred” club FC Platinum for the past two weeks.
In February, FC Platinum ordered Mhlanga to leave their camp and go back to Chicken Inn to sort out his contractual issue.
Thereafter, the player, with the assistance of the Footballers Union of Zimbabwe (FUZ), wrote to Chicken Inn seeking termination of his contract, saying he was no longer comfortable with being at the former champions.
Mhlanga insisted that his contract with Chicken Inn expired on 31 December 2016 and the Gamecocks were adamant the player, who signed a two-year contract with FC Platinum soon after his return from the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon had extended his stay at the club by another year.
“He (Mhlanga) can train wherever he wants and with whatever team but the thing is we are still looking for him. He has to report back for duty at Chicken Inn and if he is intending to move, things have to be done in a proper manner. History has it that we are currently a selling club and I must say Mhlanga’s unbecoming antics have probably cost him a possible move to South Africa. Without mentioning the name of the club, a local football agent was keen to facilitate a possible move for Mhlanga to one of South Africa’s Absa Premiership teams,” said Chicken Inn chairman Lifa Ncube.
Impeccable sources who are close to the towering Mhlanga confided in Sunday Sport that Mariztbuurg United, who are home to Warriors striker Evans Rusike, were keen on assessing the Mzilikazi-bred soccer player who boasts of a big athletic body, stamina and ariel supremacy.
Gamecocks’s secretary-general Tawengwa Hara said Mhlanga, fondly as Dazzy, signed a contract extension at Chicken Inn on March 30 last year.
“There is a clause that states that in the event that both parties, the player and the club, agree to terms six months before the end of his contract, then he will be with us until December 2018,” said Hara.
“We are not laying any complaint against FC Platinum because the player made them believe he is a free agent when he is not. He tried to do the same thing with South African (National First Division) side AmaZulu, who were very professional as they inquired about the player’s status before getting into any deal,” Hara said.
@FungaiMuderere
