Washington Arubi is likely to stay with Dynamos for another season despite his loan deal with the Harare giants expiring at the end of this month.
There are major worries Arubi — one of the standout performers at Dynamos in a double-winning season for the club — will be recalled by Northern Region Division One club Highfield United for next season.
Speculation has also been rife in the media moneybags FC Platinum are tapping on Arubi’s door, raising more fears the Soccer Star of the Year favourite could be prized away to Zvishavane.
However, Highfield United — who also had Murape Murape on loan to Dynamos — yesterday said the two players will decide on their future.
Miriam Sibanda, deputy patron of Twalumba Holdings which owns Highfield United, said in as much as they were in business to make profits, they would not do that at the expense of player careers.
“We will be guided by the players themselves. If they say they want to stay at Dynamos, let it be, they will stay. At Highfield United we don’t dictate terms to our players. If we receive some offers from another club, we will sit down with the players and discuss with them.
“The player will have to look at the terms and conditions to see if he is going to be happy playing at that particular team. If he is happy with the offer, he will go, but if he feels it’s not good enough we won’t force him.
“We want to have a situation where a player goes to a preferred team and performs to a level we expect him to play. We made it clear when we started this Highfield project that we wanted to make money, but we would not do that at the expense of players’ careers. That’s not our philosophy.
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“We can force a player to go to a certain club which he does not want and he will underperform there. It will always come back to us. This is someone’s career we are talking about. So it’s them who make the final decisions,” said Sibanda.
Arubi, who has not made it a secret that his heart lies with Dynamos, yesterday reiterated the same position saying he would want to have another dance with his beloved team next season.
“I haven’t decided on my future as yet and I cannot say anything at the moment because I’m still contracted to Dynamos. But I have always made it clear that I want to play for Dynamos and if the club offers me a good contract, I will play for them again next season. I have achieved a lot here. I’m happy, but my stay here will depend on their offer,” said Arubi.
While Arubi is making assurances that he might be playing for Dynamos again next season, Murape early this week made a shock announcement that he will be retiring from football at the end of this year.
Interestingly, the former Soccer Star of the Year still has a running contract with the Division One outfit.
Sibanda yesterday said they were in the dark over Murape’s retirement plans, at age 31.
“I have been very busy in the last few days and haven’t had time to sit down with these guys.
Murape hasn’t told us he is retiring. What we know has been reported in newspapers and not what the player has said.
There is a danger that he might have been misquoted or quoted out of context. We are going to issue a comment when he comes to us and tells us about his plans,” said Sibanda.
