Whither Zim stars?:
. . . Firmino stock rises, Musona stuck in Belgium . . . no Euro move in sight for Khana
THE common denominator between Warriors skipper Knowledge Musona and Liverpool’s Brazilian midfielder Roberto Firmino is that both cut their teeth into professional football careers in Europe at German Bundesliga side TSG Hoffenheim a few years back where they were tipped as big prospects for the future. The pair arrived in Germany six months apart in 2011 exuding great potential and Musona was only 21 then when Hoffenheim came knocking for his services from South African giants Kaizer Chiefs for a fee of just under £1,5 million. Firmino, who is a year younger than the Zimbabwe captain, had only been in Germany for six months after he was bought for £3,5 million from Brazilian outfit Figueirense in January of 2011. To show their dedication to the young talents they had unearthed from Africa and South America, the Germans gave both players fiveyear deals. But that seems to have been the end of the similarities between the pair whose careers have since taken contrasting pathways. Although Musona remains the Warriors’ best player, he has still not broken into another of Europe’s big leagues, instead retracing his route to the professional game via a return to South Africa. Fast-forward to 2017, Musona’s net value has increased marginally to an estimated £2,5 million.
According to the market estimates, the Warriors talisman is rated as the most valuable player at Belgian side KV Oostende where he has pledged his future until 2020.
Firmino on the other hand was sold to Liverpool in 2015 for £29 million, but respected site CIES Football Observatory which calculates the value of football players in Europe’s top five leagues has placed his current value at over £96 million, a far cry from the £2,5 million estimate put on Musona by the UK-based Transfer Market.
However, Musona has continued to shine and has been scoring beautiful goals for his Belgian team, including the brilliant strike against French side Olympique Marseille in the Europa League third round qualifier last year.
Regarded as one of the best strikers to emerge from Zimbabwe, Musona’s talent is not to be doubted. He has worked hard to maintain his flair since 2010 when a glowing tribute from FIFA tipped him to be Zimbabwe’s next football king after the then 20-year-old had positioned himself as one of “the Southern African League’s hottest talents”.
This was after he had made a flying start to his professional career at Kaizer Chiefs which was later followed by a move to Europe.
But one cannot avoid the agony that comes to mind when the Warriors talisman’s career is juxtaposed with his ex-teammate Firmino, who managed to stand the heat when Musona was being loaned out to fellow German side Augsburg in 2012 before his career took a nose-dive and found himself back in South Africa in 2014.
Local player intermediary Gibson Mahachi believes that the progress of players at times depend on the decisions they make and the agents they choose to represent them.
“To break into Europe, you need to have an agent with the right contacts. Intermediaries have to be connected because if you are not connected it becomes difficult to find good deals for the players. Secondly the intermediaries need to have a good product, a complete product that they can deliver for a good fee.
“It then becomes a combination of factors. There has to be contacts and a good product as well. That is why you see that agents link a lot to exchange notes,” said Mahachi.
Musona is represented by Greek football agent Paschalis Tountouris who is registered with the Belgian Football Federation. Tountouris is the
owner of Prosport Europe, an international agency which was founded in 2004. Apart from Musona, he has also facilitated the transfers to Europe of Jabu Pule, Collins Mbesuma, Bernard Parker, Nasief Morris, Jonathan Mensah and Andile Jali.
Tountouris also represented former Greek captain Giorgos Karagounis, who once played for Panathinaikos, Apollon Smyrni, Internazionale, Benfica and Fulham.
Firmino is represented by Roger Wittmann through his Rogon sports management company. The company has assembled nearly 100 clients, with the bulk of those playing in the Bundesliga.
They also have on their books Julian Draxler, Kevin Kuranyi, Jermaine Jones, Tim Wiese and Luiz Gustavo.
But players and officials under the ambit of powerful agents like Jorge Mendes and Mino Raiola have made some of the biggest money moves in Europe. Mendes’ clients include Cristiano Ronaldo, David de Gea, Diego Costa, James Rodríguez and Jose Mourinho while Raiola, who has been in the football business for over 20 years, has a client base that includes superstars like Sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic, France’s Paul Pogba and Italian Mario Balotelli.
Raiola has dealt with such illustrious figures as Silvio Berlusconi, the former owner of AC Milan, Florentino Pérez, the president of Real Madrid and Nasser al-Khelaifi, the Qatari investor behind Paris Saint-Germain.
“It’s a combination of factors as well. A lot of things are considered here. Firstly, we have to look at ability, how talented the player is. Then we look at the league that the players is playing, how competitive is it? And while in that league, how is the player faring? Take for example, our league is down there and that is why the few excelling players, probably those that make it among the Soccer Star finalists and a few others, move to more competitive leagues while the majority remain here.
“Then in Europe, they value statistics so much. If a player is a striker, what is his conversion rate? How many balls does a particular midfielder win and how many complete passes? There is always that critical analysis,” said Mahachi.
Interestingly, Firmino was discovered by a fascinating character, who had a very short flirtation with Zimbabwean football - Lutz Pfannenstiel.
Pfannenstiel is a retired Germany goalkeeper, who nearly got the Warriors job as goalkeepers coach under Tom Saintfiet in 2010, but was deported the same day they reported for their first training session. The globe-trotting Pfannenstiel worked as Hoffenheim’s head of international scouting and he recommended the Brazilian teenager for £3,5 million.
Firmino has since made great strides in realising his dream by moving to the English Premiership and also featuring for Liverpool in the Champions League.
He was the club’s top goal scorer with 10 goals last season. He was rated as one of the most valuable players at Liverpool and one time valued ahead of compatriot Phillipe Coutinho, who this week moved to Barcelona for a club record £142 million transfer. This has left the Zimbabwean football family asking the big question - Whither our Stars?
On reflection, Musona will probably turn back and realise that he missed a life-changing opportunity to break into the English Premiership when he turned down an offer to undergo trials at Queens Park Rangers in 2013.
The 27-year-old Zimbabwe international forward was offered a golden opportunity to break into the English Premiership by Queens Park Rangers at a time he was struggling to impress at Hoffenheim, but turned it down, reportedly arguing that he wasn’t the type to go for a 10-day assessment.
Instead, Musona traced his footsteps back into the South African Premiership by re-joining Kaizer Chiefs, on loan, before he was then sold to Belgian topflight club KV Oostende.
Musona is not the only Warriors star who has left many followers of the game here asking questions about our top players. His close friend and countryman teammate Khama Billiat also has his interesting parallels with teammates Ajax Cape Town’s Thulani Serero and Sundowns’ Keegan Dolly, who have since made the break into the European stage while the Zimbabwe midfield wizard is still doing rounds in South Africa, even unsure of his next move, at 27 years.
Despite being highly rated, Billiat has watched in frustration as each season passes while he remains holed up in the Supa Diski. Another player intermediary George Deda said Musona could have made an unwise decision when he spurned a chance to move to England for trials.
“You don’t need a rocket scientist to explain the gulf that now exists between the two players. If Firmino is to be sold today, he would attract nothing less than £80 million, but for Musona, if he gets £4 million he will be very lucky.
“It’s unfortunate our players find themselves in such situations. They need to make good decisions. I think they need proper career guidance because the most depressing thing with our boys is that when their careers seem to be opening up, they tend to lose the plot.
“Sometimes it’s an attitude thing. Commitment and loyalty is needed.
“They should be focusing on climbing up the ladder, but what do we get in most of the cases? Negative news about them. So focus is needed,” said Deda.
Just less than three months into a move to Saudi Arabia, Tendai Ndoro has also retraced his way back to South Africa, albeit to a lesser glamour club Ajax Cape Town, who are struggling in the Absa Premiership, where they are second from bottom.
Before he left South Africa, Ndoro had been a hotshot at Orlando Pirates and for him to join a club that is not among the giants of Supa Diski represents a huge devaluation of the former Chicken Inn man and characterises the problems that seem to be stalking Zimbabwean stars.