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Mutasa steadfast on Mukamba

Sport
DYNAMOS coach Lloyd Mutasa says he will not be bullied into accepting Denver Mukamba back into the team, and indications are that the troublesome midfielder’s future with the Harare giants is still bleak despite his return to training this week.

DYNAMOS coach Lloyd Mutasa says he will not be bullied into accepting Denver Mukamba back into the team, and indications are that the troublesome midfielder’s future with the Harare giants is still bleak despite his return to training this week.

BY HENRY MHARA

Mukamba started appearing at the team’s training ground on Tuesday and was allowed to train with the rest of the squad after his loan deal at cross town rivals Caps United, had been cut short over his errant behaviour and truancy.

It appears Mukamba is being forced on Mutasa by a member of the club’s executive who managed to convince the player to play football again after he had vanished out of the picture in the last month.

But the pair’s relationship had broken down irretrievably after his misdemeanours at the end of last term and was consequently shipped to bitter rivals at the start of this season.

Yesterday Mutasa gave the strongest hint that he does not have Mukamba in his plans.

“The coaches, at the end of the day, no matter what, will have a final say. We don’t care whether you are the son of the president or the chairman, but what is key is that we follow our football ethic. And with football ethics, we mean that we do what we think is best for the institution, hence, we wouldn’t want people to be seen like they are driven by other people. What’s key as a player is do you have the desire to come and play rather than being forced by one or two individuals?” Mutasa asked.

The Dynamos top hierarchy and Mutasa where expected to meet on Wednesday evening to discuss Mukamba and the club’s transfers, but the meeting was postponed to today.

They are set to meet this morning before the team’s training session, but sources within the technical team yesterday said Mutasa will not be arm-twisted.

What makes Mukamba’s issue complicated is the team has only one slot open for a new player, which the technical team wants to fill with former Denmark-based midfielder Tanaka Chinyahara, who has impressed during trials.

“It would be fair for me to say it when the time is right, but he (Tanaka) is doing well at training and just like the rest of the other group who are training are fighting for that slot,” Mutasa said when quizzed if the remaining slot has been reserved for Chinyahara.

The other slot that was available has been taken up by the returning Brett Amidu, who the club snapped up yesterday on a one-year loan deal.

If the executive manage to convince Mutasa to give Mukamba another chance, the club will have to release one player to create space.

Mukamba has been out of the picture since he went AWOL at Caps United, who decided to deregister him after failing to tame the players’ errant behaviour where he just decides to be truant whenever he chooses to.

The same antics strained his relationship with Mutasa last year after the player stopped reporting for training during his team’s title run against Ngezi Platinum and eventual winners FC Platinum.