Castle Lager Premier Soccer League giants Caps United has swooped on midfielder Archford Gutu, whom rivals Dynamos have been dithering on sealing a deal with for some weeks.
by Kevin Mapasure
Makepekepe will feel they got their revenge after they lost Dominic Mukandi to Dynamos during this intriguing transfer period.
DeMbare had lost Ronald Chitiyo and Blessing Moyo to Harare City in dramatic fashion prior to that.
Archford Gutu
Gutu made a surprise appearance for Caps United yesterday in their match against Kabwe Warriors after the Lloyd Chitembwe-coached team wasted no time sealing a deal with the talented player who spent the last few weeks training with Dynamos.
It is understood while Dynamos and the player had agreed terms, the delivery period of the signing-on fee became a sticking point in the negotiations.
Gutu wanted to get his signing on fee upon appending his signature to a Dynamos contract, while the club could only pay him at a later date.
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Sources that were involved in the collapsed deal averred that the club, at some point offered the player a car as part of his signing-on fee, but Gutu pressed for cash since he already owns a vehicle.
His handlers then took him to ambitious Caps United, who wasted no time giving the player what he wanted.
Chitembwe yesterday confirmed that they had taken Gutu aboard after watching his team lose to the Zambian outfit.
“He wouldn’t have been playing for us if he was not our player,” Chitembwe said. “He is a true professional and I am sure he will be happy to be part of the team.”
The handful of the Caps faithful that watched the match yesterday would have been impressed by Gutu who came in as a second half substitute alongside, Tafadzwa Rusike, Abbasi Amidu, defender Stephen Makatuka, Caddy Kapamha and Gilbert Mapemba.
By then Caps were trailing 1-0, but the fans were not worried about the result as they applauded the passing game initiated by the substitutes which might have given them reasons of optimism ahead of the new season.
Chitembwe said the result was inconsequential since this was the first time his team was paying a training match.
“The difference between the two teams today was that we were playing a Kabwe Warriors team that has already played a lot of training matches. This is the first time that we were playing a training match and even at training we have not played 11 against 11. This match was about the physical conditioning of the players and so far we have not even worked on the technical aspects of the game.”
Kabwe Warriors were quicker and more fluent, particularly in the first half where, however, the home side missed a couple of chances with Dominic Chungwa being the main culprit.
After the withdrawal of former captain Method Mwanjali, Denis Dauda, Moses Muchenje, Zvikomborero Bizeki and Allen Gahadzikwa, Caps United emerged with more conviction and purpose, but they were let down by poor finishing.
The fans would have loved what they saw in the second period even though Caps conceded another goal from a well0worked set piece by the Zambians.
