FOR CHIPPA WINGBACK MAKO
Talks on Mako’s future abruptly ended
THE proposed purchase of Chippa United wingback Paseka Mako by league leaders Mamelodi Sundowns in the January transfer window has been nixed by the club’s owner, Patrice Motsepe, after he found out that the promising player used to be a junior with the Brazilians.
Mako‚ whose attacking play caught the eye of Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane‚ was the subject of a recent approach to Chippa by the Pretoria-based club.
A potential deal to sell Mako to the Brazilians was discussed but suddenly cancelled when Motsepe said no.
The club owner did not want to spend money on a player who had previously been part of the Sundowns structures.
Mako joined Chippa United from Cape All Stars, one of many players from the Cape Town club taken to Port Elizabeth by former coach Dan Malesela.
But before that Mako‚ who has represented South Africa at under-23 level, was a junior with Sundowns.
Motsepe’s anger goes back to the infamous loss and repurchase of Lerato Chabangu which cost Sundowns more than a few million and made the club and their freespending president a laughing stock.
Chabangu signed a pre-contract with SuperSport United in 2009 at the height of his career after Sundowns had moved too slowly to offer him an extension of his deal.
SuperSport’s sneaky move to snatch Chabangu from under Sundowns’ noses infuriated the mining magnate so much that he allowed Chabangu to leave six months before the end of his contract, as SuperSport got him for free.
But Motsepe then decided he wanted the player back and paid SuperSport a veritable fortune to purchase a player who had been his just six months earlier.
Chabangu did not play for the club because of a knee injury and treatment for alcohol abuse‚ costing Motsepe an entire season of wages without him kicking a ball.
Meanwhile, Ajax Cape Town are on the brink of signing Kenyan international Jesse Were, who completed a stellar season in Zambia’s Super League and has been on the radar of several South African clubs for a while.
A total of 25 goals in all competitions from Were this year helped Zesco United to the Zambian championship as well as a place in the quarterfinals of the African Confederation Cup‚ where they were narrowly beaten by SuperSport United.
Relegation-haunted Ajax will be looking to the 27-year-old to ease their crisis in front of goal, where they have managed just 13 strikes in 14 league games.