Mogorosi deal a complex one

Africa.
Reports have emerged that the highly-rated Zebras’ forward, who turns 28 on August 22, has penned a three-year deal with Super Diski side Bloemfontein Celtics for US$385 000 — just months after signing another deal with FC Platinum.

The Zvishavane miners, widely believed to be Zimbabwe’s richest football club, paid about US$60 000 in March to secure Mogorosi from Botswana champions Mochudi Centre Chiefs.
The forward was expected to join FC Platinum either last month or, at the latest, this month.
But, instead of traveling to Zvishavane, Mogorosi flew to Bloemfontein and reports reveal that he penned a three-year deal with the South African side.

Mochudi Centre Chiefs, who realised that the offer from Celtics more than six times what FC Platinum paid for the forward, decided to cash in and arrange a pay-off, with profit, in which the Zimbabwe team would receive the US$60 000 they paid for his signature and a bonus of US$77 000.
But while making a US$77 000 profit for a three-month investment in someone who never kicked a ball for them would look like a good business move for FC Platinum, the Zvishavane miners say they should be the ones dictating terms.

Given the club officials’ commitment to certain protocol, in which information cannot be released until certain procedures have been cleared, information can only be gleaned from authoritative sources at FC Platinum.
And The Herald can reveal that no agreement is in place between Mochudi Centre Chiefs and FC Platinum for the Botswana club to sell a player whose rights they waived once they entered into the agreement with the Zimbabwean club.

Although Mogorosi, who was once hosted in Zvishavane by FC Platinum during the negotiations, appears to have set his sights to playing in South Africa, FC Platinum insist that proper procedures have to be followed.
“There are two things that need to be clarified here and one of the big issues is that as FC Platinum we don’t have an agreement with Mochudi Centre Chiefs for them to sell a player, who belongs to us, on our behalf to a third party,” said the sources.

“The second big issue is that we retain the rights for Mogorosi and any move, to anywhere, should be sanctioned by FC Platinum and we dictate the terms rather than a situation where another team dictates terms on our behalf.
“We have been reading a lot in the media about Mogorosi moving to South Africa and the compensation we are meant to be paid but we want to make it clear that we are only committed to respecting the spirit of agreements that we enter into and those are what will guide us in the future.

“We are the only club who can decide how much Mogorosi costs because he is our player, even though he has never kicked a ball for us, and we are the only club who can enter negotiations with a potential buyer.
“Mochudi used to have those rights but they ceased when they agreed to sell the player to us and now we have those rights and we need to make it clear that our colleagues in Botswana, as of now, have no commercial interests in Mogorosi.

“You can’t sell your car to someone for a certain price and, a few days time, when someone gets interest in that car and offers a higher price, you can’t go to that person and try and organise a three-party deal.”
FC Platinum acknowledge that Mogorosi might not play for them in his career.
“There is a possibility that he might not play for us but that doesn’t nullify the agreement we entered into to secure his signature,” said the sources.

“It’s not really about forcing him to play for us, in the event he has had a change of heart, but it’s about him understanding the legal implications of trying to go around us when we have full ownership of the player.
“Whatever the South Africans believe Mogorosi is worth right now, in terms of his transfer fee, that belongs to FC Platinum and that’s provided we are happy with what has been offered.

“We are watching the developments and our officials have been in touch with our counterparts in Botswana but what we can tell you is that FC Platinum hasn’t committed itself to three-party deals over Mogorosi and, as far as we are concerned, he is our player.”

FC Platinum found themselves in a similar situation, at the beginning of the season, when an offer came for Benjamin Marere’s loan deal to be cancelled with a fee proposed to cover for that.

Ironically, the platinum miners were alerted by Mochudi Centre Chiefs’ officials, when they were negotiating for Mogorosi, that the Botswana club had been offered Marere to come in as a replacement and they were ready to pay a certain fee for that.
“We found out that we were just being paid off so that Benji goes for a higher offer and that’s when we decided to stick with our loan agreement because we felt we were being abused,” said the sources.