DYNAMOS have put a massive $200 000 price-tag on the head of their star striker, Christian Epoupa, who is a subject of interest from a number of South African Premier League teams.
BY HENRY MHARA
Club chairman, Keni Mubaiwa on Wednesday said a number of Absa Premiership teams have sounded the Harare giants to negotiate the possibility of signing the Cameroonian.
Bidvest Wits and Polokwane City are understood to be leading the race for the highly sought after signature and their officials were in the country over the past few days to negotiate with Dynamos.
And it appears Dynamos want to maximise on the frenzied attention by the different clubs to get the biggest payout they can from their valued asset.
Mubaiwa said they would not negotiate for anything below $200 000 for the man, who was the arrowhead of their attack in the just ended season.
DeMbare have already rejected bids that fell well below their own valuation.
“Christian is one of the best players around and he won’t go cheaply. We have already rejected some bids from South African teams. They tabled bids and are willing to pay in the region of R900 000 ($66 000) but we turned that down. We will not accept anything less than $200 000 (R2,7million). The good thing from our part is that we are not desperate to sell, so we will try to get the full value of what we think our player is worth,” Mubaiwa said.
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“A number of clubs from South Africa have made contact for Christian. Some were here in the past few days for negotiations and others have been talking to us through the phone.”
Epoupa was one of the outstanding players in the domestic league in the just ended season, his 12 goals helping DeMbare to a second place finish in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League.
His performance, in his debut season in the country, where he was also deservedly voted among the best 11 footballers of the season, has seen him attracting a lot of interest from clubs down South.
Epoupa joined the club at the start of the season as part of coach Lloyd Mutasa’s rebuilding exercise.
After making his debut in April, Epoupa lit up the league with a good run of scoring form, which hauled DeMbare into contention.
By July, Ajax Cape Town had seen enough and sent in officials to negotiate for a transfer, but the deal fell through after the South Africa Club’s representatives attempted to arm-twist DeMbare into cancelling Epoupa’s contract without any payment being made.
He has 12 months left on his contract.
Mubaiwa would not divulge which team was the frontrunner, although a source claimed that the striker is heading for Bidvest. He is already regularising his paper work so that he can go to Johannesburg to meet up with the Wits coaching staff the source said.
The source said Bidvest are close to making a breakthrough and have invited the player to the club next week.
“He is likely to leave next week for Bidvest. He is currently sorting his travelling documents, and the chances of him joining the club are 90%. They have watched videos of him and were impressed. They have invited him for trials just as a formality, but the deal is as good as done unless another team comes with a really better offer,” the source said.
