Shakava says he has not been contacted by Sundowns as Rama returns home
Gor Mahia’s towering defender Haron Shakava has apparently attracted the attention of South African side Mamelodi Sundowns. The South African club sent two scouts led by Mandla Mazibuka to watch the lanky central defender at the Cecafa Kagame Cup here in Kigali. The scouts say they have so far been impressed by the technical ability and composure of the youthful defender, who currently is in his second season in the Kenya Premier League.
“We have monitored the player since this tournament began, he’s skillful and very intelligent. He also has the ideal height for a defender. We are happy with what we’ve seen so far,” Mandla told Daily Nation Sport.
Shakava joined Gor Mahia after protracted negotiations with his previous club, Kakamega Homeboyz who did not want to release him. The then Gor Mahia secretary general George Bwana was quoted in the media telling Kakamega Homeboyz that Shakava was too good to play in a lower division and they should not waste his talents. He then joined Gor Mahia after a Ksh 100,000 fee was paid.
He stepped into the gap left by the departing Donald Mosoti and has since acquited himself well. He featured for Gor prominently during in the Caf Africa Champions League assignments, scoring during the penalty shoot-out win away to Gabon club US Bitam. He also found the net with a header during his team’s 2-2 draw at home to Tunisian outfit Esperance.
But Shakava now says he has not been approached by any Sundowns officials.
“I have heard of the reports but none of their scouts has approached me. I also saw them in the stands in one of our games, the former Kakamega Homeboyz player told futaa.com whilst sharing his experience in the tournament.” he told futaa.com
It appears that South African sides have suddenly come to the realization that Kenya has some good players and are intent on raiding Kenya for players. And Gor Mahia seems to be bearing the brunt of the raids. As coach Williamson noted yesterday, his starting line-up on Monday had only four players who participated in winning the league in 2013. This constant player turnover is detrimental to the side according to Williamson.
Rama Salim fails trials in South Africa
Speaking of player turnover, Striker Rama Salim who left the club in June to attend trials in South Africa has returned to the country having failed to secure a deal. He has remained non-commital on his next move.
“I came back on Monday but have not yet decided my next move,” he told goal.com when reached for comment.
Rama is a classic case of how player turnover disrupts a team because right before he left, he was regaining his old form and coach Williamson commented on how he and Sserunkuma understand each other and player well together. They had built a rapport back during the Logarusic days.
Rama could have worked out a deal with Gor Mahia that allowed him to return to the club should trials fail. But for unknown reasons, both he and Gor Mahia officials decided to sever the contract. With the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) window closed, Salim is faced with prospect of staying idle for six months if nothing comes up for him soon. Which means like Lavatsa, he will be shopping himself around possibly to lower division teams in Europe or the Middle East. But even that may be difficult as transfer windows all over the world have closed.
Rama had attened trials at Bloemfontein Celtic. After failing at Celtic, Rama went to AmaZulu, where another Kenyan and former AFC Leopards’ speedy winger Paul Were penned a deal, but nothing much came out of it as well. Perhaps he saw Kevin Omondi passing trials and was sure that if “Ade” passed trials then surely he would. After all when Loga was around, he was often in the starting line-up while “Ade” was on the bench. But it is likely that Kevin Omondi’s playing style is more suited to South African teams. The point is that Kenya’s young players need to be advised even by club officials.
Gor Mahia must adapt to this new reality
Gor Mahia as a club will have to come to terms with the fact that players will always seek to go overseas in search of greener pastures. These players have only a few years to make money before they retire. And when they see players leaving for greener pastures, they will also be keen to leave.
This being the case, then Gor Mahia as a club must be flexible. If a player is leaving to go overseas , then rather than completely sever ties, they should allow the player the option of returning. But the key is that the players should be secured with long term contracts so that when the player leaves, the club benefits from a transfer fee. In recent years, players like Mosoti, Lavatsa and others have left on free transfer.
Secondly, the Gor Mahia technical staff should work towards building a squad that can adapt to constant player turnover. This means building various combinations. Lower level tournaments like KPL Top 8 and the Charity cup can be used to try out different combinations and build depth.
john Pesa Gor vice chairman in today standard newspaper has agreed with me that fees levied to Gor by Nairobi county for use of city stadium is exorbitant i.e kes 20,000 on hiring the stadium and 20% share on gate collection per game, this is what i said in my previous blogg. and i suggested Gor relocate to Kisumu stadium of which they can use the stadium free of charge.
Now that Gor is a bigger brand let Gor position herself to earn from these image by recruiting youngsters from western,nyanza and riftvalley also coast they give them long contract and pay them moderately and sell them higher to other club while doing this Gor will be self reliant, lets forget this habbit of getting players from TPL clubs they ask huge pecks n add financial constraints
Financial constraints should never contribute to bad results,ask yourself Gor junior team are paid tokens yet they ve remained unbeaten for 8 game they ve played.
Gor senior team are not playing to the instructions of the coach and most of them dont have objectives. thats is why they are taking much time to gain fitness.LOOK AT this BOY SHAKAVA WHEN HE CAME TO GOR HE SAID HIS OBJECTIVE IS TO SCORE 5 GOALS, TODATE HE HAS SCORED 4 GOALS, hence he is better than other Gor strikers and he has not let pride to consume him. thats why this South African club is scouting him and given his attitude of hard work he will go far.
we need to be told how many players has EC scouted from Kisumu boys and Kakamega High from just concluded secondary ball game or is EC on holiday.
John Pesa is complaining that not all money is collected as gate collection due to fraud,bribes to gatemen, fake tickets. Have been to stadiums but this happens in city stadium, here in city stadium there are no systems nor rules, police stays inside the stadium and wait to throw tier gas to fans. most fans with tickets cannot access the stadium due to commotion at the gates, if EC can instruct all policemen to stay outside and secure the fan entering the stadium then they will be fewer cases of cheat
So sad for Gor and its players. The EC and TB should advice our players properly when they go for greener pastures. Had Rama and Lavatsa been courteous they would have signed contracts with some flexibility to come bavk in case things go haywire. Now Rama will have yo play for Admiral as Lavatsa looks gor another club maube Rangers
life is about taking risks if you cannot take risk then you are not ambitious. what matters is how you negotiate the contract and how you invest the yields from the contract n i dont expect the players to go to oblivion or to poverty based on what they have been earning from GOR or do we expect them to play for GOR in their entire life.
EC can approach the radio stations and partner in membership drive this is surest way of making Gor self reliant atleast if they target 1000 members per county they radio stations will gain through increased fans.Let Ec try radio jambo,milele and maisha
I lay the blame squarely on the players here.These players become very stubborn when they are in their last year of contract.They usually dont want to listen to anything.I remember Lavatsa even had to leave camp on pretex that his house in Nairobi had been broken into,only to see him at JKIA hours later waiting to jet out.Calabar is currently in his last year,he has ruled out any extension of the contract.In such a case,what should the EC do??
Just to add on what Ombeng@3 is talking about Rama was advised to renew his contract so that at least he has something like a fall back plan should anything happens down south and he out-rightly refused,in that kind of scenario what should the EC do? we have very bad players especially when their contacts is ending.
Remember this! What ails GM is the pedestrian attitude from the top most official right down to the players.
When reached for comment, Gor Mahia chairman Ambrose Rachier said he had not been informed about Tuzo’s intended move but promised to issue a statement at an appropriate time.
“If at the end of March they do not renew then we would have something to say. At the moment those are mere rumors which we cannot comment on.”
Apart from the fans & the likes of former coach Logarusic everybody “else is worried about nothing”.
Players will come & go, so will coaches but the issue is how they come & go. The office knows exactly when each player’s, coach’s or even a sponsors contract will end hence EC has sufficient time to negotiate an extension or look for a replacement.
All this crisis seem deliberate yes the chaos is to enrich few cunning individuals, the so called saviours of GM.
Allow me to add, its very well to express confidence in the young talent @ K’galo & their bright futures but our main & undoing is EC’s inability to set up structures that can retain the young talent for GM to reap any worthwhile benefit.
We’ve become a walk in walk out club , players literally sneak away leaving GM high & dry even @ midseason is now the norm. Lets accept that we are an academy nuturing talent freely for other small clubs in sijui Vietnam etc! Lol bright future indeed!
“l did not blive l scored.Bat l am very happy.david owino has mentored me since l signd 4 2013 kpl chapion”. ELEZA DONDOO…
How many players from kisumu and kakamega schools r we planning to recruit.? I wonder why Kogalo is ignoring players from the western regions and coast.