THE return of midfield maestro Haruna Niyonzima to Young Africans, Azam’s capture of a Zimbabwean ‘hitman’ Never Tigere and Luís Jose Miquissone signing to serve Simba, are the most notable moves in the climaxed mini-transfer window.
The three foreign players and the Ivorian, Yikpe Gislain Gnamien who joined later, are among a few notable foreigners joining to feature in the league as most of the new players signed by most teams are local players or league veterans.
Most notably are Haruna Moshi ‘Boban’, Athuman Iddi and Haji Mwinyi Mngwali who have joined Singida United as a move to help the team shrug off relegation threat.
The Rwandan midfielder and AS Kigali skipper, Haruna Niyonzima has returned to Yanga, the club he served prior to joining Simba and later AS Kigali.
Niyonzima played in the 2-2 match with Simba at the National Stadium on January 4th this year. Yanga have also officially signed Ivorian, Yikpe Gislain Gnamien from Gor Mahia.
Yanga have now confirmed the arrival of the striker, who will wear jersey number nine and has penned a two-year contract. On his part, Yikpe promised to help the club to chase for the targets they had set for the season.
The management of Azam FC announced early this week that it has successfully signed a one-year contract with Zimbabwean international midfielder, Never Tigere.
Tigere, who played for Platinum of Zimbabwe, has been on the club’s radar in all CAF Champions League matches his team played this season.
According to Azam, Tigere has scored four goals for Platinum in the CAF Champions League matches. Tigere becomes the third Zimbabwean in Azam’s current squad.
Others are Donald Ngoma and Bruce Kangwa. Azam have also recruited Khleffin Hamdoun from Mlandege.
The player served well his team in the just ended Mapinduzi Cup tournament. Miquissone played as midfield for UD Songo on loan from Mamelodi Sundowns and played for the Mozambique national team as well.
He played his first match for Simba in the just ended Mapinduzi Cup tournament in Zanzibar.
Ahead of their Thursday Premier League match against Simba, Mbao FC have signed three players to reinforce their squad for the league.
The new players are Omary Wayne from Ndanda SC who has signed a two-year deal, defender Hussein Iddi from Mtibwa Sugar who also signed a two-year deal and the central defender Mackyada Franco who joins the club on a six-month loan from Coastal Union.
Unlike the two past seasons, the Premier League teams seem to pick a big number of their players from East African region and a few from central and Southern Africa.
Most central Africans come from Congo DR, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Simba’s Deo Kanda (DRC), Cletous Chama (Zambia) and Obbrey Chirwa who plays for Azam among those still playing in Tanzania this season.
Ghanaians, who in the past seasons were West Africa’s favourites in Tanzania, are now countable in Tanzania.
Only Yakub Mohamed, who plays for Azam, is the most active Ghanaian after the league parted ways with James Kotei and Asante Kwasi who featured for Simba.
Also a notable signing is Young Africans new Coach Luc Eymael, who has penned down a short-term contract with club.
Eymael also managed to rope in his former fitness trainer at Free State Stars Riedoh Berdien to be his assistant at Yanga.
Yanga have also added local stars such as Ditram Nchimbi, Tariq Seif, Adeyum Ahmad in the just ended mini-transfer window besides Niyonzima and Yikpe.
