Gor Mahia sign Maurice Ojwang
Gor Mahia have signed Western Stima centre back Maurice Ojwang, a player who was being pursued by a number of teams.
Additional reporting from the Nation
Record Kenyan Premier League (KPL) champions Gor Mahia have completed the signing of defender Maurice Ojwang’ from Western Stima on a three-year deal.
Ojwang’, who captained Stima last season, has been on K’Ogalo’s radar since 2016 when Brazilian Jose “Ze Maria” Marcelo was in charge.
While confirming the move, Gor Mahia CEO Lordvick Aduda insisted Ojwang’ is not a replacement for skipper Harun “Shakes” Shakava who is rumoured to be on his way out.
“We are happy to have landed Ojwang’. He is a young defender with a lot of promise. He has been called up to the national team before so there is no doubt about his quality. He is Gor Mahia material,” Aduda told Nation Sport.
“Shakava is still a Gor Mahia player and we can’t talk about him being replaced yet he is still with us. Ojwang’ is a player we have been following for a long time and we are happy we have finally signed him,” underlined the veteran football administrator.
It will also be a sweet reunion with his former teammates at Stima namely Kenneth Muguna, Geoffrey Ochieng’, Joash Onyango and Bernard Ondiek.
On Shakava
CEO Omondi Aduda has indicated that the club is interested in giving Harun Shakava a new contract.
“He was with the boys in Rwanda for CECAFA Kagame Cup and he knows what he wants in the team. We shall listen to him and our able office will implement his recommendations in case he wants more players,’’ explained Aduda to Citizen Sports.
But Shakava has made it clear that he will not renew his contract
“It is my own decision to quit the club at the end of my contract and I will not pen a new deal with Gor. No one has compelled me to take this action but it is my personal decision to look for other options elsewhere,’’ he said to Citizen Sports.
Aduda is confident that Kogalo will do better in Continental Football this season
“As you have noticed Gor Mahia has kept making a step ahead. Last year we reached the CAF Confederations quarter finals and God willing this time we shall go beyond that stage,’’ added Aduda.
We have already signed enough mediocre players…please stop wasting funds and time….if we beat the team from Burundi…we will face MC Algiers do u think we stand a chance with this squad…if Oktay is ambitionless he can go away honourably…we don’t want embarrassment
The defender joins the already crouded department what does that mean? will the technical bench bring on board a striker(s) ? hope soon so that they training together before the start of the season. Wish the team all the best
This reminds me the season we signed 12 strikers…only to discover that we can play a maximum of 2 at a time…
Top teams have at least four top defenders. With Shakava leaving, we only have Joash and Momanyi as experienced defenders. Joachim and Ronack are still a hit or miss type of players thus the need for another proven KPL defender. How does that make central defense crowded. Furthermore, Joash has had a lot of injury issues in the last 6 months or so. Having able cover is necessary.
how do you send blackberry away then you leave below average foreigner like mustapha….am I the only person who’s fed up with Oktay?
The newly signed players are good they maybe raw tarlent but being in GOR the pressure will make them to either performance or chicken out but for Berry let’s be serious he needs a new challenge elsewhere he had outgrown his usefulness for Mustafa wondering why he was left but in all we need atleast 2 sharp goal poacher strikers period.
Mustafa is an international player who plays regularly for the national team. Having such players on the bench or around the dressing room is very important for CAF assignments. Most of these talented young players tend to freak out at the biggest stage. International experience counts for alot when we go to hostile grounds such as West Africa and North Africa
This is our best signing this season. Ojwang is a top shelf defender. I even pleaded with the EC to sign him the year we signed Joash but it never came to pass. We have finally landed him. Only worry is that there are already too many defenders but the EC and TB know best
@musymo..i agree with you. This is a very good defender and makes up for losing Bernard ochieng to Wazito.
The only worry is that we now have Momanyi, Joachim, joash and shakava…and if am not wrong a newly signed defender.
Question is… Who will give way here?
Jonny, Jonny, Oooh Jonny please bi most. Where have you surfaced from
Kwani this is your personal group…i have the right to post as many times as I want!
Aduda talks sacarstically I think the mantra this season is less of Costly CAF games and being average in kpl
Now let the games begin. Team ochiek!
Very happy with our signings this time around. The same people who make noise on average foreigners shout to the rooftops when we give our own boys a chance. Hehehe.. Otek!
We can’t afford top draw strikers. They are not many in our region. Afcon was there the other day and we have to agree that many regional clubs have no top strikers. Let us polish some of our own. After all is said and done, Ochieng’ of Ulinzi was top scorer. Why can’t we believe that we can make our Ochieng’? We have Kip, Onyango, Oliech and Oalo as serious forwards any team in Kenya would want.
Let the games begin.
Oliech? heheheheh
Since when did kogallo become western stima B……batambuze, joash, geoffrey ochieng and now Maurice ochieng ? Actualy, we could end playing the entire back 4 of western stima of 3-4 years ago.
Nonetheless, i agree with some, Maurice ochieng is top notch but that is not wat we need ….did i not hear okay talk of wingers and strikers ? Brokers awuoro !
Liverpool won CL with around five former Southampton players. Maybe Western Stima have a better player development programme than most KPL clubs just like Southampton in England
Depth in the Playing unit is very important, it is for this reason that Gor was above teams like Sharks and Bandari last season.We must not tire on the way considering the many competitions awaiting us.
Mapigano Kisu yuko wapi????
Ako kwa posho mill anasiaga wimbi jinga hii
so Shakava has left for Nkana. We wish him the best .
Thank you very much Dan, for this piece of information. You have actually given a very start for the day. Now next to go should be the head of the technical bench…ask Musonye!!
**you have actually given me a very good start for the day. I hope there will be no more incitements and go slows. I hope, too, that Nkana has paid something for Shakava’s remaining 6 months.
Bwana Bandit osiepa, one of these days you will be forced to swallow your words. I have been watching you repeatedly despise our serious tactician and i wonder why?
What has he not done? Did he lose to ingwe? Did he lose the league? How did he perform in CAF? Being a new coach i must say he achieved beyond expectations last season. Don’t you think so?
Let’s wait and see but i believe soon enough you surely will swallow your words.
Can anyone see through what I am seeing……….the backline is sorted. one or two strikers and we are the GOR MAHIA you have been hoping for. Let the youth/inexperienced players develop. They will deliver and some might not but that’s okay. All Generation of footballers must taste GOR
True.
To add my thoughts, I think that with the current developments, the leadership is not just thinking about short term gains but also long term in terms of player development. Relying on the already established and familiar players can be very costly financially and also when they leave or get injured. Gor is not new to this challenge. I am not in any way dismissing the value the experienced players add to a team. My preference is have some but also have a strategy to develop your own. Whether from your junior team or other clubs. What this does, you tend to have some stability over a long period of time. Conversely, the players tend to work hard for their retention or move to better clubs with good remunerations. I therefore think that if this situation is handled well, there could be less pressure on finances and thus give space for the leadership to pursue other avenues.
@jaupanda excellent – let the established players go to Wazito. Tusker is in the money, KCB has the money, Bamburi has the money, Thika United were in the money when someone was Gor and Thika’s sponsor. But they do not necessarily care about this GOOD experienced players that we are screaming about. We have been running a very expensive outfit of experienced players who have not helped us compete effectively at continental level. So we have been having a bad bargain from the experienced players. Getting this guys onboard costs an arm and a leg, at a cost to the local “inexperienced” players who then lack even the basic necessities including inability to pay rent. The foreign legions never complain about anything. That’s not how to constitute a team. Either you are paying all or paying non. Let us have the locals compete with locals. We have bought back our glory over the last 10 year at a very expensive price both in players and coaches. One thing we must understand, Gor alone cannot go far in continental features. We need the other teams as well to develop and nature local talent. We need competition from other teams for the local league to attract big sponsors. You need FKF that attracts but not repel sponsors e.g.DSTV which was a key cog in the league. How will Gor succeed when everybody else is messy. We will be wasting our time and resources in a mirage chasing after experienced players, then we get stuck with a foreign coach, then we have to have a sponsor whom you give visibility in return to peanut, then win a league that can not compensate for all the effort.
We belong to this part of the world. Accept. We have tested glory in the past when money was never an issue to the players. But if money becomes an issue and you don’t have it, then let us cut the coat according to our size until another day.
Excellent commentary. Let’s pull together and support this team of young, ambitious and talented players. The Am undos, Wekesas, Oalos, Otieno s of this new Gor Mahia will surprise many people. I am happy to announce that I will not be surprised myself. I have confidence in this new team. God bless you all in the new season.
Congratulation for signing young talents couple with experienced player
I agree with you totally we should groom our young talents me I believe that in Kenya we have very good football players, just visit our school boys when they have football games that is when you will realize that there is talents in kenya that when natured can do wonders please have faith in our boys. And this will also improve our National team greatly. Another thing we should have our local coaches to get good trainings as required by the present football bodies for them also to be able to handle our teams even to glory because other teams ascending to glory are being handled by their native coaches.