FCB Nyasa Bullets have made a fresh bid to hire Silver Strikers coach Peter ‘Mjjojo’ Mponda, who is set to replace Zimbabwean tactician Kallisto Pasuwa.
A source confided in The Nation that the People’s Team has made the counter-offer to Mponda in a desperate bid to lure him back to his roots.
However, a $15 000 (about K26.2 million) compensation exit clause in his new contract with the Bankers could prove to be a stumbling block.
Said the source in an interview on Tuesday: “Mponda already signed a new three-year contract with Silver, which includes a compensation exit clause, but he could not resist the temptation of Bullets’ counter-offer which is in excess of K10 million as monthly salary.
“In fact, they [Bullets and Mponda] are supposed to have another meeting on Christmas Day [on Wednesday] to finalise everything.”
In an interview on Wednesday, Mponda was elusive on the matter.
“I can neither confirm nor deny the reports, but I have a contract with Silver,” he said.
On whether Bullets have made a fresh offer, the former South African second-tier league side Black Leopards coach said: “Why don’t you ask them [Bullets]? Let’s leave it there for now.”
Bullets acting chief executive officer (CEO) Albert Chigoga in an interview on Wednesday played down the issue.
“We are now getting used to stories associating the club with particular coaches and players. We have said several times that once the decision regarding the head coach is made, we will make it official,” he said.
“At the moment, let’s enjoy the off-season gossip as it comes.”
Silver CEO Patrick Chimimba declined to comment on Wednesday.
Bullets first sent a delegation to meet Mponda in Lilongwe mid last month where the initial offer, including a K7 million monthly salary, was made.
Pasuwa, who led Bullets to five league titles on the trot, three of them with Mponda as an assistant, is strongly linked with the vacant Flames job as head coach.
His contract with Bullets expires in five days’ time and there are indications that he will not extend it.
Mponda guided the Bankers to their first league title triumph after 11 years to end his former team’s dominance.
