Gutu’s dark appeal

Bulgarian city of Lovech, as he battles to make the grade at the Eastern European nation’s football champions.
The Zimbabwe international has been in Lovech, one of the oldest towns in Bulgaria located in the north eastern part of the country about 150 km away from the capital Sofia, since last Saturday on a three-week trial period.
He is trying to secure a contract with PFC Litex Lovech, a provincial side based in the city of about 36 000 people, which has been transformed since the turn of the millennium by the millions of its owner, Grisha Ganchev, a wealthy businessman with interests in petroleum, automobiles and agriculture.
The club is poised to win its third strai-ght Bulgarian Premiership title, leading the race with four games to go before the end of the season, which would bring its haul of league titles to five since they won their first championship during the ’97/’98 season.
With its financial muscle, Litex have been able to sign some of the best players in the country and stars from foreign nations and they have five Brazilians, including four who play in midfield – Tom, Sandrinho, Doka and Nenem – and two Serbians who include club captain Nebojsa Jelenkovic.
There is also a Frenchman, a player from Bosnia-Herzegovina and one from Slovenia, in a multi-cultural team that showcases the financial muscle of its ambitious owner.
Gutu has been training, all week, with the Litex first team and yesterday he told The Herald he had settled well but has been surprised by the way his dark features have turned him into a star attraction in the city.
Litex have a Senegalese player on their books, who only arrived at the club five months ago, during the January transfer window.
“I have been received very well and the treatment I have received from the club has been first-class,” said Gutu.
“What I have noted is that the people here are probably not used to seeing black people in their city and when I go to the shopping mall, I have people who stop me and just want to have pictures taken with me. When I pass some of them and I turn, I see them looking back and staring at me.
‘It’s a new experience for me but the good thing is that it’s not negative stuff because most of them appear genuinely happy to see me and try to talk to me.”
Eastern European football has had its challenges with racism in the past and England’s black players have been racially abused, now and again, whenever they travel to that part of the continent on international duty.
But Gutu said he has been charmed by the reception he has received and, even at the hotel he is staying, he is being treated like a star by the staff who all support the local football team that he is battling to join.
“Everyone at the hotel where I am staying now knows that I’m a footballer and they are excited by my presence and there have been a number of journalists who have also been coming for interviews,” said Gutu.
“I’m happy with how I have settled in and I don’t believe I’m feeling lonely really.
“It’s usually very cold here, especially in the morning, but I think the weather conditions have generally been fine for me and I’m okay.
“I have trained four times, so far, with the first team players in small side games and I think I have performed to my expectations and I’m looking forward to working on that high level in the coming weeks.”
The Dynamos midfielder said he was surprised by the quality of the players at the team, especially the foreign brigade, and admits he will have to do very well to make the grade at the club.
Interestingly, the club’s best players are in midfield where the crew of Brazilians and their Serbian captain rule the roost and Gutu will have to prove, in the next two weeks, whether he can bring a different quality to a competitive team that has been progressing in the last few years.
Litex represented Bulgaria in the European Champions League this season, whose final will be staged at Wembley on May 28 between Barcelona and Manchester United, but crashed out in the qualifying rounds.
“They have a competitive team with players who are technically and tactically good,” said Gutu.
“The level of their game is very high and I think the best player at the team is a Brazilian who plays wide midfield while the captain plays central midfield.
“I need to work very hard if I am to make the team and I think I have made a good start, but I also need to do more.
“The plans are that I must come back home by May 25 and I think by then the coach would have made his decision on whether I have made the grade or not but I’m confident.”
Gutu said the team’s fans are very passionate and their training sessions are always watched by many supporters.
Some of the Dynamos fans have questioned whether Gutu is making the right move trying to land a contract in Bulgaria.
Others have said the midfielder should try and grab his chance, and use the club as a springboard for better pastures, and Gutu said yesterday he was certain, given the quality he as seen at the team, his game will improve if he gets a contract.
The midfielder is set to be named by Norman Mapeza in the Warriors’ squad ahead of the key 2012 Nations Cup qualifier against Mali in Harare in three weeks time, which Zimbabwe need to win to remain in contention.
A loss will send Zimbabwe crashing out of the qualifiers with two games remaining.
The Bulgarian champions have been tracking Gutu since their scouts spotted him during an Ajax Cape Town training camp in Holland last year.
The scouts were also at the 2011 Chan finals in Sudan where Gutu scored his first goal for the Warriors in the 1-0 win over Niger.
Gutu has developed rapidly in the past few months where he has broken into the Warriors and turned himself into one of the star players at Dynamos.
He is also a leading member of the Young Warriors who are battling to qualify for the All-Africa Games in Mozambique in September and will now take on South Africa in a Battle of Limpopo showdown for the ticket to Maputo.
Gutu, a poor boy from Mbare who lost both parents while he was still very young, passed the grade at Ajax Cape Town last year. But complications arose, related to questions over his age, and the deal collapsed and Gutu returned home and started to rebuild his career at Dynamos.
He initially struggled to break into the Glamour Boys’ first team, as coach Elvis Chiweshe chose to stick with his tried-and-tested crew in the countdown to an explosive league championship race, but soon began to find space and started making a big impression.
This year, with the arrival of coach Lloyd Mutasa who has a passion for emerging talent, coupled with the departure of a number of seasoned players from the Glamour Boys camp, Gutu became one of the key players.
Litex signed a sponsorship deal with Bulgarian mobile operator Globul four years ago and became the first football team, in the country, to brand its own mobile phone game, Litex Football.
Last season, they won the league championship with a 12-point cushion over giants CSKA Sofia.