Austria-based agent identifies local football talent
AUSTRIA-BASED football agent, Didier Kanku says his mission in Zimbabwe is to fish young talent, which he has realised is in abundance.
Speaking in an interview on Friday, Kanku said he is aiming at “unearthing rough diamonds to be polished” for top European leagues.
He said playing on the fringe European leagues such as that of Czech, Poland and Slovakia will increase opportunities of local players making it big in Europe.
“Those leagues (Polish, Czech and Slovak) provide a window of opportunity for the players, they also get a chance to be fine-tuned for the top league.
“It is not easy to make it big instantly when you come from this part of the world, playing in Poland gives players time to improve their game further and a chance to be seen by the right people,” said Kanku adding he would not be fishing in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League for the time being.
The agent said he has already identified four players that will be travelling to Europe for trials when the season window period opens in January.
He said players that have been shortlisted for European trials are Mbekezeli Sibanda, Njabulo Mpofu, Tawanda Muchaya, Terence Nyoni and Congolese, Patrick Gigambo.
Kanku expressed confidence they would be making the grade as the players had shown immense potential.
He is also facilitating the presence of four soccer coaches from Slovakia and Czech at the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Trukumb Tournament that will be held from 1 December and will involve the top eight teams in the Zifa Southern Region Division One League.
“Two Czech coaches and two Slovak coaches will be available for the Joshua Nkomo Cup and they will be identifying potential players that can play abroad I think the Southern Region League has a lot of players with potential and the coaches are not going to be disappointed,” said Kanku.
He said he came up with the idea to hold a tournament to give youngsters a chance to shine in the presence of the coaches.
Kanku was one of the speakers at the launch of the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Trukumb Top 8 tourney.
The agent, who is also a lawyer, was introduced to local soccer by Talen Vision director, Khumbulani Nkomo who met him through musician, Dumisani “Ramadu” Moyo of Insingizi outfit.
Kanku said his love for football saw him getting back into the game as an agent after completing his under-graduate studies in law and economics.
The Fifa-registered agent has 20 years experience in the field having worked in various African countries such as Cameroon, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire Guinea and Democratic Republic of Congo.
Kanku facilitated the hiring of Julius Simon as Talen Vision technical director and he said the club would be gunning for the PSL next year with the aim at of playing in Africa.
He said the first Zimbabwean talent he came across is Benjani Mwaruwaru who played in the French League 1 for AJ Auxxerre.
Kanku has been charmed by the warm welcome given to him by the people in Bulawayo and had quickly picked up words of iSiNdebele and expressed his love for isitshwala.