Harare — UNSETTLED Zimbabwe leftback Onismor Bhasera is close to sealing a deal with English championship side Plymouth Argyle as he continues with his desperate efforts to find a club.

The former Kaizer Chiefs defender, inactive for nearly a year, is at Plymouth Argyle trying to secure a contract.

According to Tuesday's edition of The Plymouth Herald, Bhasera impressed manager Paul Mariner during a two-week training last month.

After the trials, Bhasera returned to Kaizer Chiefs last week before returning to his possible new base.

The report indicated that Argyle are preparing to apply for a work permit for Bhasera from an independent tribunal.

No date has been set for the independent tribunal yet but the application may be heard as early as this week.

"The tribunal committee consists of one member each from the Football Association, the Football League and the Professional Footballers' Association.

"There will also be an unspecified number of experts," read the report. Bhasera is one of the five players that Plymouth have targeted.

The Pilgrims are also chasing goalkeeper Romain Larrieu, Karl Duguid, winger Yannick Bolasie and Craig Noone. Bolasie and Noone already have contracts but the club is seeking extensions.

If the tribunal agrees, Plymouth can register Bhasera outside the normal registration since Fifa have already declared him a free agent.

The player has spent close to a year without a club as he had a contractual dispute with club Kaizer Chiefs.

Bhasera walked out of the Soweto giants claiming that he was a free agent while the club insisted he had a running contract with them.

At one time Bhasera joined Portsmouth who made a successful application for his work permit. But he failed to complete his expected move to Fratton Park because he was embroiled in the contractual dispute with Chiefs.

Pompey were later barred from signing anymore players, throwing Bhasera's intended move off the rails.

After the failed Portsmouth deal, Bhasera had been hoping from one club to another with no success. He was at Crystal Palace, Queens Park Rangers and Sheffield Wednesday where he failed a medical. The player had also been linked to French clubs Lens and Le Harve.

If he joins Plymouth, Bhasera will become the second Zimbabwean international to feature for the Pilgrims after former Warriors and Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar, who turned out for the Division Two side in the 1990s.