Polokwane coach applauds Chembezi

Polokwane City head coach Clinton Larsen has tipped former Be Forward Wanderers centreback Dennis Chembezi to be successful at the South Africa’s top-flight league team.

According to Kickoff.com, Larsen confirmed on Wednesday the signing of the defender on a two and half years contract after undergoing week-long trials at the Rise and Sun.

“I think [he signed] in the last two days. For me it’s just important that the player is on board,” Larsen told to KickOff.com.

Larsen said the Malawi international will bring experience to the club.

He said: “Well he’s a central defender firstly, you know that’s a problem area for us. Secondly, he’s a Malawian international, he’s played in the last two international qualifiers so he’s a regular now in the national team.

“So, he comes with strong defensive qualities. He’s a strong defender, he enjoys his defending, and I think we are looking for at this point strong defenders who can really block out opposition attacks, and that’s one of his qualities.

“But like I said, coming with international experience will really help us, considering that we’ve currently got the two youngsters at centre-half, and we need a bit of experience.”

He said it is difficult to get quality players locally, saying: “Anybody who comes now is probably a player that is deemed surplus at other clubs, and the chance of them coming and really doing well are really limited.”

Former Flames striker Esau Kanyenda, who also had a stint at the club in the twilight of his career, facilitated the move.

According to The Daily Times report last week, Polokwane, who are second from bottom, are anchoring the 16-team log-table with 17 points from 19 games, offered K10 million to buy him.

In an interview yesterday, Wanderers team manager Victor Maunde said the club has accepted the K10 million transfer fee.

The team had earlier said the offer was on the lower side.

“Chembezi is worth more than K10 million, but if we had not taken it would have affected his career. We have let him to go,” he said.

But Kanyenda, who is also the player’s manager, said the club agreed personal terms with the player, including salary and accommodation.