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assessment as the Glamour Boys try to assemble a strong squad for the Champions League.
The Harare giants are the only Zimbabwean representatives in Caf’s inter-club tournaments next year and will take their familiar place in the Champions League hoping to make a better impression this time around.
Dynamos are expected to welcome the two Zambian players at their training camp this week and the duo, who are both Under-20 players, were recommended to the club by former Masvingo and CAPS United coach Fewdays Musonda.
DeMbare assistant coach Tichaona Diya yesterday said the Harare giants, who might lose a number of key players during the off-season, are going for quality to beef up the side and that is why they were not concentrating on the local scene only.
Chances are high that they could lose their talisman, Denver Mukamba, to a South African club while defensive rock Partson Jaure is training with SuperSport United while he awaits the processing of his visa for further trials in Turkey.
Winger Tichaona Mabvura, who is highly-rated and was dubbed by former DeMbare chairman Farai Munetsi as the next Eddie Katsvere, is also on trials at SuperSport United.
Dynamos, in turn, have set their sights on signing FC Platinum striker, Donald “Dombo” Ngoma, who is interested in joining the Glamour Boys but will need the greenlight from his employers for his dream to come true.
Defensively, the Glamour Boys have already prepared for the future by signing defender Morris Kadzola who impressed during his spell at Motor Action this season.
Assistant coach Tichaona Diya confirmed yesterday that they were expecting a pair of Zambian teenage footballers at DeMbare this week but could not go into detail about the new players.
“We are considering a number of things, including height, on all the new players that we are going to sign because we have had problems on that aspect.
“The last time we played in the Champions League we were at a disadvantage and we would want to balance on that,” said Diya.
DeMbare are looking to add at least two new goalkeepers, a central defender, a central and attacking midfielder and two strikers.
The Glamour Boys, who begin their campaign in the preliminary round against Lesotho Correctional Services in February next year, have three days to finalise their squad for the continental assignments.
The initial Caf deadline lapses at midnight this Saturday and if they hope to include another player afterwards they would have to accompany the registration with a fine as stipulated in the Caf regulations.
Diya said DeMbare were not worried about the draw, which may see them clashing with reigning African champions Al Ahly in the second round.
He said the club is, at the moment, concerned with the groundwork for their preparations.
“We need to put our things in good order first by making sure that we have all our players ready for registration. If all goes well we are looking to regroup the first week of January and then have at least a training camp for two to three weeks, resources permitting.
“We are always at a disadvantage in the Caf competitions because the teams that we are going to meet are already playing while we are off-season.
“But our target remains reaching the final of the Champions League. Hopefully by the end of the week we will have finalised our squad.
“We don’t want to repeat the situation that we faced before when we had to run around the last minute to register players.
“The executive has been helping us a lot on that aspect in negotiating with the players for renewal of contracts and those that we have identified.
“But we are still having challenges with very few players we are not sure whether they are going or they will be with us next season.
“We have asked them to be honest with us so that we won’t waste slots by registering people who will not be able to play for us,” said Diya.
The club’s secretary-general, Raymond Kazembe, although professing ignorance about the Zambians, yesterday said the technical team had been given the leeway to look for the players of their choice.
Kazembe said the management would support the technical team by providing everything in their means to achieve their goals.
The Harare businessman was worried by the frustrations by “some clubs who are being difficult and appear reluctant to release players recommended by the coaches.”
“Some of the players are more than willing to come to Dynamos but I don’t know why the clubs are refusing to co-operate.
“Time is running out and it’s a nightmare but I hope we will get through it soon,” said Kazembe.
The Glamour Boys had two Zambian players during the just-ended season but the duo failed to cope up with the pressure at the country’s biggest football club and threw in the towel last week.
Derrick Kabwe and Arthur Kaseloki arrived at Dynamos, albeit in controversial circumstances in the manner in which they were recruited, but the Zesco United pair flopped in their debut season and packed their bags and returned home.
Their case was not helped, too, by a spate of injuries and illness.
Kabwe and Kaseloki did not deliver in DeMbare’s failed Champions League and later Confederation Cup campaigns where the Glamour Boys had been hoping to cash in on the Zambians’ international experience in particular.
But by the time Dynamos sealed a rare domestic back-to-back league and cup double with a fine 2-0 win over Monomotapa in the Mbada Diamonds Cup final, it was Kaseloki with at least eight appearances, who had featured in more matches than his countryman.
It was probably, on reflection of their poor contribution to the Dynamos cause, that Kabwe and Kaseloki wrote to the club’s management and later approached coach Callisto Pasuwa to concede that they had found the going tough and wanted out.
It also emerged that their club Zesco United had earlier threatened to revoke the agreement they had entered into with Dynamos after the Harare giants failed to honour an outstanding balance of US$10 000 for the players’ services.
Zesco are understood to have charged US$40 000 for Kabwe and Kaseloki’s services.
Online Reporter