PLYMOUTH Argyle and Warriors’ defender Onismor Bhasera is reportedly close to securing a deal to join English second tier football division side Walsall.
Report by Henry Mhara
Bhasera is out of contract with the struggling League Two side, but media reports from England yesterday suggested that the Mutare-born player would utilise the current transfer window.
The reports say the 26-year-old player has also attracted interest from Shrewsbury and Northampton although it is Walsall who are favourites to land the talented left-back.
“Argyle’s versatile left-sided player Onismor Bhasera could soon be leaving the club,” reported the Plymouth Herald yesterday.
The Walsall Journal also reported: “Plymouth left-back Onismor Bhasera is wanted by league one side Walsall. Shrewsbury and Northampton are other clubs being linked with the Zimbabwean.”
Bhasera has been with the Pilgrims since March 2010. He has made 95 appearances in all competitions and scored four goals.
Argyle are currently one point from safety in the League Two table after a 4-0 weekend defeat and have appointed a new coach John Sheridan.
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The former Kaizer Chiefs man has previously been linked with moves away from Argyle, but with no success. In the summer of 2009, Bhasera went for preseason training with the then English Premiership side Portsmouth, under the belief that he was a free agent.
He impressed the club enough for them to offer him a contract in August 2009 and he successfully applied for a work permit.
However, Kaizer Chiefs claimed that he was still contracted to them for another year and the deal failed to go through.
A few weeks later, it looked likely Bhasera would join Queens Park Rangers having been invited to train with the club by Paul Hart, the man who had originally tried to sign him for Portsmouth.
Sheffield Wednesday also entered the race for his signature and were apparently willing to pay a transfer fee to Kaizer Chiefs, but Bhasera failed a medical examination because of his nagging knee at the end of January 2010.
He then began training with Plymouth in February 2010 after Fifa ruled that Bhasera was a free agent and, therefore, eligible to join a club outside the transfer window.
Another England-based Warriors player Bradley Pritchard is also reportedly on the move.
Pritchard, who currently plays for English second tier league club Charlton Athletic, has been linked with a move to English Premier League sides Aston Villa, Fulham and Reading.
Charlton manager Chris Powell yesterday said he was not surprised by the sudden interest in his player although he said no club has made a formal bid.
“Does it (the speculation) surprise me? Not really,” said Powell yesterday. “He is a good player, he has made massive strides and people will always look at stories like that and players like that who have come from nowhere and really impressed when they’ve played. We’ve tried to be a bit careful with him because he has boundless energy, wants to do well, wants to learn and I really like him as a player and a young man.”
