WARRIORS striker Knowledge Musona will not rejoin South African Premiership football side Kaizer Chiefs, his agent and German club Hoffenheim confirmed yesterday.
SPORTS EDITOR
The two parties said there was a breakdown in negotiations as Musona wants to pursue his career in Europe.
Mike Makaab, Prosport International CEO and the agent representing Musona, released the following statement yesterday afternoon.
“It is important for all parties involved that we put an end to the speculation surrounding the possible transfer of Knowledge Musona from Hoffenheim to Kaizer Chiefs. After a lengthy period of negotiation, we regret that we were unable to reach an agreement for Knowledge to rejoin Chiefs. The major stumbling block is that the player was not prepared to sign an agreement for longer than the current season (one year loan agreement), as it is his desire to pursue his career in Europe. Understandably, this short-term arrangement was not acceptable to Chiefs. On behalf of Knowledge, he has asked me to convey his sincere thanks to Chiefs and their supporters for the wonderful support that he has received from them.” Kaizer Chiefs football manager Bobby Motaung explained further. “After a long protracted negotiation with Hoffenheim for Knowledge Musona to come back to Kaizer Chiefs on loan for another season, we’d like to announce that the negotiations were not successful due to time constraints. We will however review the negotiations for the next window period.” Musona began training with Hoffenheim reserves on Thursday after an injury layoff . On Tuesday, the club’s head international scout, Lutz Pfannenstiel, explained to Laduma that they had already started looking for other options for the Zimbabwean striker. Pfannenstiel told Laduma: “We’re still in contact with Chiefs, but we haven’t heard anything for a few days now, so we’ve started looking for other options for Knowledge should his loan with Chiefs fall through.” Musona will be one of the few top Zimbabwean players in Europe with Costa Nhamoinesu already carrying a league title and best foreign player medals at Sparta Prague in the Czech Republic while youngster Marvelous Nakamba will be the first Zimbabwean player in the Dutch Eredivisie after signing for Vitesse. Other players like Archford Gutu, Silas Songani and Quincy Antipas are in smaller countries like Sweden and Denmark. Ovidy Karuru, who has played in France and Belgium, has returned closer home to join Kaizer Chiefs, just like the rest of the local players just content with crossing the Limpopo into South Africa. Former Dynamos goalkeeper George Chigova (SuperSport United), Milton Ncube (Ajax Cape Town), Kuda Mahachi (Mamelodi Sundowns), who had a move to French giants AS Monaco scuppered by high financial demands from the Chloorkop side, and Eric Chipeta (Chippa United) are some of the players in the Super Diski. The rest have been failures – Tafadzwa Rusike, Rodreck Mutuma, both Simba Sitholes and Peter Moyo while Denver Mukamba is seeking to get more game time at Pretoria University after moving on loan from Bidvest Wits.
