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Friday’s deadline: A tale of two Zungus

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Dream shattered: Bongani Zungu
Dream shattered: Bongani Zungu

The January player transfer window was lukewarm until the two Zungus – Bongani and Nkanyiso – dominated the headlines on Friday (deadline day) despite the two being at opposite ends of the spectrum.

The two midfielders are not related, but they are somewhat connected by their contrasting fortunes.

Friday was a day to forget for Bongani (27) after his untold big-money dream move to the Spanish La Liga fell through; but it was great for Nkanyiso (24), who concluded a last-minute transfer to Orlando Pirates in a transaction City Press has established cost close to R5 million.

Bongani summed up his failed transfer from French Ligue side Amiens to RCD Mallorca in two words.

“Wow. Lol,” he tweeted from Palma on Friday, reflecting his disappointment with a confused-face emoji.

The Bafana Bafana midfielder had travelled from France to the capital of the Spanish island of Mallorca hoping to secure a deal.

The struggling La Liga campaigners were willing to acquire the playmaker on loan from his French club Amiens SC, with an option to make the move permanent at the end of the season.

Media reports from Spain during the countdown to the Friday deadline said Mallorca had proposed to pay a €500 000 (R8.3 million) loan fee and the Spanish were prepared to fork out €5 million if the two parties agreed to a permanent move.

The deal was subject to Amiens landing the replacement for Zungu, with the French club hoping to get Victor Wanyama from English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur by Friday.

However, the talks collapsed in the countdown to the midnight cut-off time of the transfer window as Amiens were apparently turned off by the Kenyan international midfielder’s steep wage demands.

Attempts to reach Bongani were unsuccessful because he was travelling back to France at the time of going to print.

The player from Duduza township in Ekurhuleni joined Amiens from Vitória de Guimarães in Portugal in July 2017.

He was a regular for Amiens before a knee injury kept him out for the better part of last season.

The former Mamelodi Sundowns star made a solid comeback and was arguably Bafana’s top performer at the Afcon in Egypt last year.

He has featured 18 times for Amiens across all competitions so far this campaign.

On the domestic front, it was a different case altogether for Nkanyiso, who completed his move from Stellenbosch FC to Pirates within 48 hours.

His business representative, Mike Makaab, said the deal “happened very quickly and a number of clubs wanted him”.

“Nkanyiso had a year and a half left on his contract, but Stellenbosch had a very fair release clause.

“There was a set fee to terminate his contract. We triggered that clause. The move literally happened within 48 hours,” said Makaab.

However, the boss of the agency Prosport International refused to disclose the figures involved, citing confidentiality.

Nkanyiso, who previously had spells with Jomo Cosmos and AmaZulu, is one of the most tactically astute midfielders around, but he was almost derailed by bad influences off the pitch.

It was when Steve Barker lured the player from Empangeni in KwaZulu-Natal to Stellenbosch in August 2018 that Nkanyiso showed his potential as one of Stellies’ influential players en route to the team’s promotion to the Absa Premiership this season.

But some of Pirates’ supporters have levelled criticism at the team for signing a midfielder when Bucs need to strengthen their defence. This was despite the club releasing Musa Nyatama on Friday.

Pirates senior administrator Floyd Mbele acknowledged that “people were justified in their observation”, but he argued that the transfer window was not a “willing seller, willing buyer market”.

“The challenge is that, in January, clubs are in it [the market] for different reasons and they are not willing to release their best players. People must understand that it is not easy. It’s okay because we are not the ones to sign players on popularity.”

Mbele confirmed that the negotiations between Pirates and Stellenbosch over Nkanyiso were short – but he refused to divulge more information.

The player is expected to join his new team-mates this week.

Meanwhile, Bongani embarked on a painful return trip to rejoin Amiens yesterday.

Speculation was rife that Sundowns would snap up SuperSport United striker Bradley Grobler, but Matsatsantsa a Pitori chief executive Stan Matthews told City Press on Friday: “He is not for sale. We had no approaches from Sundowns for him.”

Instead, Sundowns unveiled teenage striker Promise Mkhuma, whom they promoted from the club’s reserve league side.


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