Sport Comment:$130 000, my foot!

By The NewsDay | Jan. 5, 2013 | 2 Min read

THE WORLD of football player buying and selling has always been a tricky one and clubs shy away from stating their player is not on the market.

Instead, they release the player’s value – not the market value – but the price that simply implies the player is not on the market.

Dynamos have registered some players for the Confederations of African Football Champions League and naturally want to start off their preparations on Monday with a full house.

As such, they will rush to clinch some deals as per demands of the technical team.

But when one is charged $130 000 for a player already registered and can be replaced at an extra cost, one suffers heartbreak.

Francesco Zvikumbawire cannot be worth that much and Hwange know that.

Instead, Hwange should be polite enough and let Dynamos know that their player is no longer available for the Champions League and apologise for that.

That could mend relations. Understandably, trying to buy a player who is on a four-year contract is a hustle, but some understanding can surely be reached.

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We don’t want to look back at the old Farai Vimisayi saga and say, maybe, Hwange is hitting back because they have agreed to release centre-back Aaron Katebe to the same team.

Various other clubs have agreed to release players to the Harare giants while negotiations continue since Dynamos is representing Zimbabwe.

Years back, we had Espérance of Tunisia turning basically into a “national squad” for the Champions League and what followed was a 6-0 humiliation of Highlanders.

Espérance had basically the same approach to their campaign last year which ended Dynamos’ hopes with a 6-0 annihilation.

What is important to note is the relationship between the club that is representing the country and the rest of the teams from their league.

Yes, players have to be paid for since most of them are not free agents – and Dynamos must pay – but figures have to be reasonable.

Complications on the issue of player transfer arise when one compares what clubs get from the league and the various competitions they take part in during the season.

For instance, Dynamos are $50 000 poorer as they did not get their winning cheque from NetOne after the Charity Shield victory.

They received $100 000 for winning the Mbada Diamonds Cup and a further $75 000 for the Castle Lager title.

That brings their total to $175 000 and certainly 90% of that money cannot be used to pay for one player.

Similarly, Dynamos cannot be asked to pay $18 000 cash for Devon Chafa, where there are payment arrangements that can be made, or even $10 500 for Martin Vengesayi, who played a minor role in last year’s campaign.

But for Dynamos, that is the price the club has to pay for being the most successful outfit in the country and for playing in the Champions League almost every year!