Africa-Press – Eswatini. The adage holds true for Mbabane Swallows players Mohamed Kabia and Bashiri Mutanda, who have reportedly left the team ahead of the 2023/24 season. The two players were notable absentees in Umkhonto kaShaka’s preseason friendly game against Siphofaneni at Siphofaneni Sports Ground on Saturday afternoon. According to impeccable sources within the club, both players decided to leave the team, and Mutanda decided to call it quits after realising that he was not in the plans of the Head Coach, Caleb Ngwenya, who wants to assemble a strong team in the coming season.
The player also had his contract coming to an end, after having joined the team on a two-year deal in 2021, signing from UPL side Mbarara City from Uganda. “Yes it’s true both players left the team and Mutanda was the first one to leave earlier, then Mohhamed followed just a fortnight ago. Both players are not coming back after having bid farewell to some of the players they were close to in the team. Both of them even exited the team group to show that they were done with playing for the team. Kingsley Kwayki, who is also still not yet back from visiting Ghana, is expected to back this week to prepare for the season,” revealed a well-informed insider.
well
The source went on to say that Banele ‘Pupu’ Sikhondze, who was also not among the players playing last Saturday, was not feeling well. “Pupu is not feeling well at the moment, so there was no need to play him when he was sick,” the source said. Kabia’s agent, Alhassan Kamara who is based in London said one of the reasons his player left the team was because of an alleged strained relationship with Mbabane Swallows management. “Yes my player, Mohammed has left Swallows and I’ll find him another team to play for,” he said briefly. Mutanda who became the second Ugandan to feature in Eswatini since Yunus Sibira, who played for Royal Leopard in 2019 preferred not not comment on his departure.”I just don’t want myself in papers,” he said.
transfer
With the transfer window opening, many players are expected to be joining new clubs, with others being on the transfer list. A transfer window is the period during the year where a football club can transfer players in and out of the club. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player to the new club through FIFA. The biggest transfer in soccer is currently held by Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior fondly known as Neymar who set a world record move to Paris Saint-Germain. The cost of the transfer was E3.3 billion in transfer fee, but went as far as a whopping E9.3 billion overall.
charges
Meanwhile, Caleb Ngwenya’s charges are expected to feature in the Prince Mangosuthu Legacy Cup which was launched last week. The 2023 edition, will take place next week Saturday at the Prince Mangosuthu Stadium in Ulundi in the outskirts of Durban. The soccer festival will see four clubs and a social game pitting Kaizer Chiefs legends and Tshinja Social team made up of elite players and musicians from the Zululand, battling for trophies. The four clubs are KwaZulu-Natal-based DStv Premiership sides in defending champions Amazulu, Richards Bay and Royal AM, with Eswatini envoys Mbabane Swallows completing this year’s edition. Reports suggest Swallows might pocket not less than E300 000 as participation fee.
No immediate comment could be sourced from Swallows General Manager Sandile Zwane at the time of compiling this report.
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