Curtworth Masango — Dynamos have been reminded that a big brand alone is no longer enough to lure the best footballing talent in the country.
As the 2024 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season gets close, Dynamos are licking their wounds after missing out on virtually all the big-name players they had targeted and will now resort to Plan B as they also prepare for the CAF Confederation Cup.
Dynamos were after the signatures of Walter Musona, Khama Billiat, Kuda Mahachi, Billy Vheremu, Mthokozosi Msebe, and Obriel Chirinda as their top targets and seemed favourites for Billiat, Mahachi, and Chirinda.
However, Dynamos lost all of them to league rivals of small stature.
Apart from missing out on potential signings, Dynamos even failed to hold on to Junior Makunike who was within their ranks last season.
Now what promised to be a major project for coach Genesis Mangombe might end up being a makeshift squad.
Speaking to Zimpapers Sports, Mangombe revealed monetary issues made the club lose the signatures of their targeted players.
He, however, believes they have the situation under control despite the humiliation on the transfer market.
"When you consider a player to join you it means you know they will be quite good to your system and they will be a good addition to the squad," said Mangombe.
"We failed to acquire some of the players we thought were a priority to add to the squad due to several reasons, top of the lift being financial issues. We had negotiations with several targets that went well.
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"But what happens when you fail to bring the players you consider as your Plan A it means you move on and work with what is available. Plan A is always the best but it doesn't mean that Plan B won't work as well if A fails.
"The reality is you have to work with what you can afford and what is there and bring the best of available resources."
Mangombe believes that the recent 2-0 loss to Ngezi Platinum in the Castle Challenge Cup does not reflect much in the way the team will fare in the league.
"The loss was a big wake-up call to some of the players who might have thought that everything would come on a silver platter. There is a lot of work to be done and it was a big opportunity for our foreign guys to see how things work here.
"But league football is yet to start. We remain Dynamos and we won't be intimidated. Losing matches is part of the game, many factors are considered behind every loss, and we pick up from there and continue," he said.
