The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
FC PLATINUM have lost a second player who was part of their plans for the Confederation of African Football Champions League with midfielder Nqobizitha Masuku headed for Zambia to sign a contract with Buildcon.
Masuku’s departure is the second blow for the Zimbabwean champions since they were snubbed by Liberty Chakoroma who chose to stay at Ngezi Platinum where he has been offered a better deal.
FC Platinum coach, Norman Mapeza said they have to respect Chakoroma’s decision while for Masuku it was a better deal financially for him.
“On Liberty’s case, I think we have to respect his decision, he wanted to join us but at the end of the day he decided to go back to Ngezi, I am sure he has got his decisions and we have to accept that,” said Mapeza.
Masuku, the hard tackling former Bantu Rovers captain joined FC Platinum at the end of 2015 after spending a season at Highlanders. Mapeza said Masuku has been sold to Buildcon, the same team where another Zimbabwean, Partson Jaure is headed.
“On Masuku’s case, I think he is going to sign for Buildcon, I understand they have been signing a lot of players. I think it’s good for his career, moneywise I think it’s also good for him, we wish him well. He was sold to Buildcon, he was with us for the past few days, I understand he is going to Zambia on Monday,’’ Mapeza said.
On their training camp where they have been since last Monday, Mapeza expressed his happiness with the Bulawayo Centre for Cricket Excellence facility where they have been fine tuning since they have not had any injuries to their players due to the surface.
“So far so good, we can’t complain, we don’t have any injuries, we are happy because the surface we are using is a little bit soft, we have asked the owners of this place to water the pitch, usually the surface is hard, it brings a lot of injuries but so far so good,’’ he said.
On the new players they have signed, Mapeza said they were getting on well with the rest of the team since the idea of coming to Bulawayo was for bonding.
“They are gelling in well, the purpose of us coming here was for bonding purposes, of course it’s for camping purposes but also it’s for bonding purposes, so far so good, I think they are gelling in with the rest of these guys and I am happy with that,’’ Mapeza said.
He declared that their intention was to go as far as the group stages in the Champions League and he has confidence in the squad that he has assembled.
“Our objective is to go to the group stages, if we can manage to go to the group stages, then we can plan ahead what we really want to achieve after we have gone to the group stages. The main objective now is to go to the group stages.
I have got so much faith, I have so much belief in these guys, what we just need is to keep working hard and keep praying and see what happens when the games kick off,’’ Mapeza said. FC Platinum will be heading back to Zvishavane on 26 January with plans to play practice matches against local teams that are already in pre-season. Mapeza said they are likely to play against two Zambian teams and one each from Malawi as well as Mozambique.
Meanwhile, Ngezi Platinum Stars captain Partson Jaure is on the verge of joining Zambian side, Buildcon with a deal imminent. Information obtained by Sunday News Sport is that Juare with Ngezi and Buildcon have reached an agreement for his transfer across the Zambezi River. Since the player still had a contract which was due to expire at the end of this year, he will be sold to Buildcon who are based in Ndola.
“Partson Jaure is leaving Ngezi Platinum Stars, he is joining a Zambian side Buildcon. He still had a running contract, the clubs agreed terms of the deal,’’ a source said.
Ngezi Platinum secretary-general Cloete Munjoma said they were still in discussions with a Zambian club which is interested in the services of Jaure.
“We are still in the process of negotiation with some Zambian club but it’s not yet confirmed. We are still in discussions. Negotiations are at an advanced stage for his move. There is a Zambian club that has shown an interest in the player,’’ Munjoma said.
Jaure joined Ngezi Platinum in July 2016 from South African side University of Pretoria. He took over the captaincy from Chakoroma in March last year.
Buildcon, formerly known as AM Welding is one of the richest football clubs in Zambia. It was promoted into that country’s top league in 2017.
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