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Norman Mapeza

Mukudzei Chingwere Midlands Bureau
CHAMPIONS FC Platinum and Chicken Inn are expected to hold showdown talks today in a bid to find common ground regarding the future of Warriors defender Lawrence Mhlanga. The miners are racing against time to finalise their squad ahead of the Champions League squad submission deadline on December 31.

Zimbabwe’s sole representative in Africa want to include the talented defender into their squad but they have had to wait due to contractual problems around Mhlanga.

Mhlanga joined the miners early this year but has been inactive ever since with Chicken Inn, contesting the move saying the player is still contracted to them.

This meant that Mhlanga had to sit out an entire season and his situation appeared to have been compounded by the fact that both FC Platinum and Chicken Inn built their 2017 campaigns on the back of solid defences and were not in a hurry to resolve the matter.

FC Platinum and Chicken Inn conceded the least number of goals in the Premiership which could have contributed to the loss of appetite to resolve the issue.

Norman Mapeza’s men built their championship success around a frugal back-line that only gave away 15 goals, while Mhlanga was wallowing on the sidelines.

Gamecocks executive member Tawenga Hara maintained that Mhlanga is their player and they retain the right to be involved in any negotiations regarding his movement.

“Lawrence is our player any team that wants to sign him has to engage us,” said Hara.

“I have not received anything about that unless if they have talked to the administration office that they want to have a meeting about Lawrence,” he said.

Although Chicken Inn refused to confirm today’s meeting, it has also emerged that the Footballers Union of Zimbabwe have stepped in to assist the defender.

FUZ president Desmond Maringwa hinted yesterday that they were likely to finalise the matter today.

“I will be able to give you the full details tomorrow, we are working on the issue and we expect to finalise the issue tomorrow (today) and I will be able to give you the final position tomorrow,” said Maringwa

Maringwa said in the event of a deadlock the player should be allowed to continue playing football and the aggrieved club would be compensated if the verdict on the dispute comes out in their favour.

“A player should be allowed to register and continue playing football I have written to the Football Association regarding that.

“A club which would have been short-changed when the verdict comes out should just be compensated but a situation where a player is not allowed to play football must not be allowed.

“So the issue is to release the player and allow him to continue playing football,” said Maringwa.