- Mohutsiwa, Gaolalwe deals to be done this week
- Rollers technical team divided
LETLHOGILE MPUANG
Township Rollers have confirmed that defender Simisani Mathumo’s move to South African Premiership side Free State Stars is a done deal. This was revealed by the club’s Spokesperson Bafana Pheto yesterday (Monday).
The Zebras defender has in recent years grown to become one of the best centre backs in the BTC Premiership. His performance has not gone unnoticed, as he was named captain of the national team last year by coach David Bright. He had also attracted consistent interest of Absa Premiership teams. Since the arrival of his former coach at Free State Stars, Nikola Kavazovic, he has been strongly linked with a move to the struggling Absa Premiership outfit.
Rollers Public Relations Officer (Bafana Pheto) told this publication that Mathumo will soon be unveiled as a Free State Stars player.
“Mathumo’s deal is a done deal. He will be joining Free State Stars and we expect him to be unveiled soon,” said Pheto.
“We cannot however at this point reveal much details about the move, but it is a deal that we are happy with. We will soon infom you all (the media) of how much he was sold for, and what are the benefits of the deal.”
He further added that though it is a big loss for the BTC Premiership defending champions, they were more than happy to see him leave and progress even further in his career.
“He has been a very loyal servant for the club and he has been very very dedicated to Rollers. He gave 100% of himself every time he went into the field of play. We will definitely miss him, but we are happy that he has went onto a much more professional set up, and we are confident that he will succeed,” added the PRO.
Pheto also confirmed the interest TS Galaxy (South African first division team) had in two of their star players.
“It is true that they have shown interest in Mosha (Gaolalwe) and Gape (Mohutsiwa). It is not just mere interest, we are talking about serious interest. At this point nothing has been agreed, we are still in our negotiations, but we expect a deal to be reached this week as the transfer window will soon close.”
“Obviously these are good players that we losing, and we will try find possible replacements for them. We are also at the same time currently talking to a few other teams regarding some players we wish to have. At this point we have been able to secure a defender from Sankoyo (Bush Bucks), and we are expecting to make one or two more additions.”
Meanwhile, Pheto dismissed reports that the club’s technical team has been rocked by divisions since the appointment of new coach Rudolf Zapata. According to reports Zapata’s relationship with his coaching staff has gone from bad to worse in recent weeks.
“We are unaware of such, or maybe should I say it has not come to our attention. We believe that our technical team is pulling in one direction and we take those reports to be untruthful,” Pheto rebuffed the allegations.
“Zapata is our coach until the end of the season. His mandate is to win the Mascom Top 8 and the league, and then we can start discussing the future at the end of the season,” he ended.