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Deco stranded after quitting Tanzanian club

Sport
Phiri, who turns 33 next month, yesterday said his predicament is compounded by the fact that he will not be able to play outside after Zifa was suspended by Fifa over government interference, a situation which will affect a number of players, who will not able to move to other clubs outside the country.

BY FORTUNE MBELE

TIME is running out for jobless former Warriors captain Danny “Deco” Phiri to find a local club for this season after quitting his Tanzanian club Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) with the transfer window closing at the end of  the month.

Phiri, who turns 33 next month, yesterday said his predicament is compounded by the fact that he will not be able to play outside after Zifa was suspended by Fifa over government interference, a situation which will affect a number of players, who will not able to move to other clubs outside the country.

“I had three months to my contract, but I left the Tanzanian club due to personal reasons, but I am sure that I will get a clearance from there. I am looking for a local club to play for and have up to the monthend when the window closes. But honestly speaking since I came back, I have not been approached by any club and I have just been training by myself,” the soft-spoken Phiri said.

The 2015 Castle Lager Soccer Star of the Year was released by South African top side Lamontville Golden Arrows last August and quickly moved to DTB, a club that competes in the second-tier division in Tanzania.

A nagging injury affected his career at Golden Arrows, but he says he is now as fit as a fiddle.

“The injury worries are over. I am fit now. I have not trained with any club locally. I am just doing individual training as I ponder over my next move,” Phiri said.

He joined the Tanzanian club with compatriot Tafadzwa Kutinyu, who also returned from Guinea last year where he played Horoya AC, rejoined Chicken Inn and took flight to DTB before kicking a ball for the GameCocks when local football reeled under strict COVID-19-induced lockdown regulations. Kutinyu is still at DTB.

Phiri’s manager Gibson Mahachi yesterday confirmed that the ex-Warriors’ skipper is back home.

“He (Phiri) is back in the country. His contract expired at DTB and we are just trying to find something for him,” Mahachi said.

Phiri started his career in the top local league with Bantu Rovers, joined Chicken Inn in 2011 and was crowned Soccer Star of the Year in 2015 when he was captain of the championship- winning GameCocks.

In 2016, he joined Golden Arrows but in his last days at the club, Phiri had a nagging knee injury that kept him on the sidelines until the South African club parted ways with him.

He had fully recovered when he was axed at Golden Arrows.

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