HIGHLANDERS coach Baltemar Brito has not gotten over the failure by the club management to capture his prized target Oriel Chirinda in the July transfer window after revealing that bringing in South African player Thabo Lunga Zikode was not his decision.
Zikode (27), who was with lower-tier side Uthongathi in South Africa, arrived at the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League side last week and Brito said he did not get enough time to assess the player.
“Thabo came to us last week. He is a player who was selected by the board (management). We assessed him in two or three sessions and it’s difficult to make a true assessment of a player to give you a true feedback on the player. The only thing that we can say is that he is a player coming from the board. They are our employers, so we need to respect them,” Brito said.
He added: “You know who was our target and the board did not reach our project. At least we expect the board to bring one player who is similar to our target in terms of characteristics, so let’s wait and see. The boy is working with us. We know that the board wants to sign him. We don’t know if the process is done or not. We need to wait for the update.”
Bulawayo Chiefs’ Chirinda, is the league’s leading goal scorer with nine strikes.
Highlanders hit the road to the resort town of Kariba, where they take on ZPC Kariba at Nyamhunga Stadium today as they continue their title chase, having gone 17 games without defeat to open a seven-point lead over second-placed Ngezi Platinum Stars. They have scored a few times with only 15 goals, but they have an impressive defensive record having conceded just four goals.
Source Newsday
