COOPER EYEING BIG MOVE ABROAD
While the European and South African leagues’ transfer windows have recently shut, Mothusi ‘Mini’ Cooper is still club-less despite his highly rated talent. Touted by most pundits as the best amongst the current crop of local footballers, a few seasons ago it was almost unfathomable to imagine the 24 year old Tsabong native without a club.
From Extension Gunners to Township Rollers, Cooper’s talent attracted attention beyond the borders of the country and he eventually landed in Zambia’s ‘bola yapa zed’ league.
After penning down a two year deal with Lusaka Dynamos, which was set to expire in 2023, things got sour between the two parties and the player terminated his contract with the Zambian giants last month.
The Botswana transfer window is still open, with just under two weeks before it closes, and top sides are bracing themselves for a war to get his signature on their books.
The player’s representative, Bakang Moipone has however dismissed any chances for Copper to return home as they are still exploring opportunity for a move outside the country, with Europe being on top of their priority list.
“It is not a secret, we are getting a lot of calls from top local clubs. The local league is not an option at the moment, it is not in our interest,” Moipone revealed.
Having penetrated the Zambian football market, Moipone said football in Zambia is a step ahead of the current status of the game locally.
In spite of a rather unceremonious exit from the league, the player’s representative highlighted that there has been interests from other teams in the Zambian league for the services of Cooper and further added that they will be open for a move back to Zambia after assessing their options.
“The Zambian league is financially better than the local league. Yes we had our issues with Dynamos but most teams there are far much better; we were dealing with people who are not honest and we had to terminate,” he stated. Cooper travelled to Europe last month to explore an opportunity to compete in some of the world’s best football leagues. Although his talents did not fail him, Lusaka Dynamos were not ready to lose him and went for a higher valuation of their midfield genius. “We had what is equivalent to P1 million pula as his release clause, but when teams came for his signature, Dynamos asked for P3 million. In the times of COVID-19, they basically priced him out of a possible move,” Moipone expressed his frustrations. The player is currently in the country and is reportedly training with BDF XI to keep his fitness levels up to scratch. Asked on securing a possible move to the South African league, Mopoine pointed out that South African clubs are not keen to invest in local talents. “SA clubs want to take our players for free, they don’t want to pay for the quality of our talents. We have Lebogang Ditsele (Tolly), Mosha Gaolaolwe (Fanta), who can easily compete in that league but teams there are not ready to pay for their services. Our export rate is also low in recent years as the value of our league has declined drastically,” he said.