Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Petros Kausiyo
3 January 2009
Harare — FORMER champions Dynamos will be without the influential duo of Edward Sadomba and Justice Majabvi when they start their preparations for the 2009 Premiership season amid revelations yesterday that the pair will be leaving for South Africa and Austria respectively.
It has emerged that DeMbare chief striker Sadomba has struck a deal to join South African Premiership side Bidvest Wits before the close of that country's January transfer window.
Sadomba led from the front as Dynamos turned on a gallant show in the 2008 African Champions League in which the Harare giants reached the semi-finals before bowing out to Cameroon's Cotonsport Garoua after a 5-0 aggregate defeat.
Warriors striker Sadomba scored five goals in that campaign, including a brace on the opening day of the mini-league phase, as Dynamos went on a fairy-tale run that captured the imagination of the global football family.
His talents during that continental safari also captured the attention of clubs in and out of Africa with Sadomba at one stage going for trials in Austria.
But it is at Wits where 2008 Soccer of The Year runner-up Sadomba is destined to go for his second dance with South African football.
Sadomba yesterday confirmed the move to Wits but said he could not discuss much about the deal, refereeing further questions to his manager Regis Dzenga, whom he said was handling the matter.
Dzenga could, however, not be contacted for comment despite repeated efforts to get hold of the former Zifa board member for development, who has been in South Africa for some time.
The speedy forward also paid tribute to the Dynamos family for their brave run in the Champions League.
DeMbare also finished a close second behind Monomotapa in the bid to retain the Premiership title.
"To reach the Champions League semi-final was a big achievement and I would like to thank everyone in the team, including our supporters.
"I am now looking forward to a new challenge in South Africa, but the deal has not been finalised yet.
"There are just one or two things (to iron out), but it is very promising and my manager (Dzenga) is still in South Africa working on it," Sadomba said.
But sources indicated that a deal had been agreed on and Wits were just finalising on the foreign player they want to drop in order to accommodate Sadomba.
The Clever Boys, as Wits are affectionately known, had exhausted their quota of foreign players when they agreed to the Sadomba deal.
Sadomba, the sources also said, could move to Wits and in turn be loaned out to a lower division side in Spain for a six-month period after which he would return to the South African side before the start of their 2009-10 season in August.
Should he move to Wits this month, Sadomba will join fellow Zimbabwean international Energy Murambadoro, who is the Clever Boys' goalkeeper.
While Sadomba is all but certain of a switch to South Africa and an end to his romance with Dynamos, industrious midfielder Majabvi will in the next four weeks seek to break into the professional game by undergoing trials at Austrian top-flight side LASK Linz.
Majabvi, who had to cut short his tour to Yemen with the Warriors and returned home on Wednesday, is expected to leave for Austria this afternoon for a month-long trial stint. It is Majabvi's first attempt to break into a European club after he met with little success in his bid to join Bloemfontein Celtic and reigning South African champions SuperSport United.
Majabvi went to Celtics in January and was back in South Africa at the start of July to try his luck at Gavin Hunt's SuperSport.
But after failing to get a breakthrough, he shifted his focus on helping DeMbare in their Champions League and domestic campaigns.
However, his manager Gibson Mahachi is optimistic the former Lancashire Steel midfielder will finally get his breakthrough into the professional league this time around.
Mahachi said LASK Linz had wanted Majabvi to come to Austria in July, but the Fifa players' agent had recommended that the midfielder complete his Champions League commitments with Dynamos before seeking a move outside the country.
Interestingly, LASK Linz are the same club that Sadomba had a brief trial stint with after the striker went AWOL at Dynamos ahead of the Harare giants' trip to Cote d'Ivoire for a mini-league assignment with ASEC Mimosas in Abidjan in September.
Sadomba barely stayed a week in Austria before returning to try and join DeMbare on the eve of their departure for Abidjan.
His brief stay in Austria meant that the LASK Linz technical department did not have an opportunity to fully assess him.
Mahachi appears to have learnt from the problems that Sadomba encountered and wants Majabvi to spend a month at LASK Linz before looking at other trial offers.
"He is going for a month in Europe and he will be at LASK Linz during that period. We decided that he would have to go on a month-long trial period because it might take him a bit of time to adjust to the weather conditions that are currently prevailing in Austria.
"We are told it is very cold at the moment and temperatures are ranging around minus three degrees.
"Initially, they wanted him there in July together with Sadomba, but I preferred that he stayed and finished his Champions League commitments with Dynamos," Mahachi said.
Mahachi, who is a director at sports management company Futbal Sports Management Private Limited, also revealed that Majabvi was being earmarked for an eventual move to the German Bundesliga but would have to first pass the Austrian test.
LASK Linz, who hail from the Upper Austrian state capital Linz and are the oldest club that region finished sixth in the Austrian Bundesliga in the 2007-08 season.
"He has actually been targeted by a Bundesliga club, but they would want to see how he fares in Austria for about six months while the Germans will be monitoring him.
"But indications from the club president are that they are very much interested in him and were happy with what they saw from the video footage we sent to them.
"That is why they agreed to wait from July when they initially wanted him. There is a feeling at Linz that he will make it. In fact, there is growing interest in Zimbabwean players in Austria and if the (Majabvi) deal succeeds, we should be sending two more players there.
"There is also an offer for Justice to go for trials in Sweden, but that is only subject to how his trials in Austria would have gone.
"Because the German Bundesliga's connection with Austrian football, we have given first preference to the move to LASK Linz," Mahachi said.
Mahachi, however, insisted that Majabvi would rejoin Dynamos if any of the intended moves abroad failed to materialise.
The midfielder has also secured the blessings of the Harare giants to for trials with LASK Linz.
"I had a meeting with the Dynamos chairman (Patson Moyo) and the secretary-general (Tawanda Murerekwa) and we are still negotiating a new deal with the club.
"If he fails to move he will come back to Dynamos. So the only way they can lose for now is if any deal outside the country works out," Mahachi said.
After gaining some measure of experience featuring for Dynamos in the Champions League and for the Warriors, Majabvi should arrive in the Upper Austrian capital, Linz, a better player than the rookie who travelled to Bloemfonetin Celtics for trials in January last year.
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