HARARE football giants Caps United have missed the March 25 Fifa cut-off date to sign Kaizer Chiefs defender Lincoln Zvasiya who will now have to wait for at least three months to return to action.
BY TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
Zvasiya, whose loan deal at Greek club OFI Crete ended prematurely at the end of last year, has been training with the Green Machine.
He has also trained with Harare City as he sought to bounce back to competitive football after leaving the Greek club.
But it was Caps United who have been angling to sign the former Gunners and FC Platinum man.
Caps United manager Luis Maio, however, said yesterday the deal has since collapsed after they failed to sign the player by the Fifa cut-off date of March 25.
The transfer window in Zimbabwe closes on March 31, but Maio said they have since learnt from Zifa and Kaizer Chiefs that it was no longer possible to issue the player an international clearance as the Fifa cut-off date for the transfer of players has already passed.
“We were very keen to sign on the player. We have been discussing, but by the time we moved to try and sign the player we realised it was already late.
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“We got in touch with Kaizer Chiefs and they told us it was no longer possible to issue a clearance for the player because the Fifa cut-off date for the transfer of players had passed. Zifa also told us it was no longer possible to have the player issued with an international clearance as the deadline had already been missed,” Maio said.
Zvasiya still has a running contract with Kaizer Chiefs and with the South African club having already exhausted their foreign quota, the defender will now have to wait a little bit longer before he can return to action.
Zvasiya, who last played competitive football in October last year while still in Greece, is reported to have improved vastly in fitness levels because of the pre-season training that he has undergone, which had ignited Caps United’s interest.
Mike Makaab of ProSport International, who represents Zvasiya, was quoted saying they would be engaging Chiefs at the end of the season to discuss the way forward. “Zvasiya is training in Zimbabwe and we have people helping us there, but for now it is a wait-and-see situation, but we hope to see him playing.
However, we will definitely be sitting down with Chiefs at the end of the season to discuss his future because he is still contracted to the club,” says Makaab. Meanwhile, Caps United are set to face Shabanie Mine in a friendly match at Maglas Stadium in Zvishavane on Saturday.
Caps United are looking to have away game’s experience as the Harare giants will have to play many away games this term.
Coach Taurai Mangwiro also wants to use the practice match to fine tune his squad before the start of the season next weekend.
The home team has put gate entry charges at $2 for the rest of the ground.
