HERENTALS are this week set to settle their application validation fees with ZIFA after finalising consultations in the case in which they claim FC Platinum have been illegally using their player Juan Mutudza this season.
The 23-year-old is at the centre of an ownership wrangle between the Students and the miners.
He has played a key role in FC Platinum’s success story in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League.
The Zvishavane-based club won their fourth straight league title with three games to spare.
The Premier Soccer League are scheduled to hand over the trophy to the miners on the final day of the season next week.
But, the platinum miners might find themselves disappointed should Herentals’ application against them to the ZIFA Player Status Committee be successful.
The Students have a running contract with Mutudza which expires at the end of this month. And they have remained adamant FC Platinum have been fraudulently using him all season.
Mutudza spent the past two years on loan at Dynamos and the Glamour Boys also wanted to extend the tenure with a view to eventually sign him on a permanent deal upon the expiry of his contract with Herentals.
But to their surprise, at a time they had agreed with both the player and his parent team, Mutudza surfaced at FC Platinum and Dynamos, being the last team to have registered him, had to clear him.
Herentals made a follow-up with FC Platinum with the Students’ secretary-general Fainos Madhumbu writing about eight times demanding that the miners stop fielding Mutudza in their matches.
FC Platinum acknowledged the communication and through their secretary-general, Benson Virimai, even offered to pay US$2 000 along with another US$1 000 payable in local currency to Herentals in a bid to hold on to the player whose contribution to their glory this season has been massive.
But the Students refused to take it and instead demanded that the Norman Mapeza-coached team first cease to use the player.
FC Platinum were never going to budge as Mapeza continued to deploy the youngster in his team. That prompted Herentals to lodge an appeal with the ZIFA Player Status Committee who made it clear the appeal was not valid until it’s accompanied with a fee of US$2 500.
Herentals are keen to know why FC Platinum decided to continue playing Mutudza, especially after they informed them of the position on the ground.
They have been consulting widely and they have now come up with a position which will see them paying the fee to the ZIFA Players Status Committee for the case to be heard.
Madhumbu revealed Herentals will pay the required money to ZIFA this week.
“As Herentals Football Club, we have been making wide consultations, including legal and administrative, before paying the appeal fees,” Madhumbu said.
“We will pursue this issue because we know for certain Juan Mutudza is our player who signed a five-year contract with us in 2018.
“His deal with us expires at the end of this month and we can’t fold our hands while our player, who is legally contracted with us, plays for another club (without our consent).
“We have decided to pay the appeal fees so that the issue can be heard. Mutudza, just like all the other players in our books, is our player.
“How then do we feel seeing him turn for another club whom we haven’t entered into an agreement with.”
Mutudza’s registration with FC Platinum is also suspected to have been done in unclear circumstances with critics pointing fingers at Dynamos who have, however, vehemently denied giving FC Platinum exclusive permission to use Mutudza without Herentals’ approval. – The Herald
