Sundowns chase Chawanangwa
South African top club Mamelodi Sundowns are chasing Silver Strikers FC and Under-20 national soccer team star forward Chawanangwa Kawonga.
Such is the interest from the Pretoria-based outfit that at the weekend they sent their technical official Floyd Mogale to assess Kawonga during Saturday’s Carlsberg Cup quarter-final qualifying match between the Bankers and Azam Tigers at Kamuzu Stadium which the latter won 1-0.
Although Kawonga had a quiet game by his standards, Mogale is reported to have made a commitment to continue monitoring the player.
“According to Mogale, he did not see much of Chawanangwa and the match itself was dull to enable him, come up with a proper assessment. He felt it would have been unfair to make a determination of the player based on one game,” said a source who asked for anonymity.
Silver chairperson McDonald Mafuta-Mwale confirmed Mogale’s visit, saying he requested that Kawonga should not be informed of his assessment mission.
“We were informed just before the game that a Sundowns official had come to watch the boy and he indeed requested us not to inform the player so as not to put him under pressure.
“Of course, the player did not rise to the occasion on that afternoon, but there is still hope because Sundowns have asked for his DVD clipping for further assessment,” said Mafuta-Mwale.
He said Sundowns were impressed with the player’s performance after watching him in a friendly game between Cosafa Under-20 Champions South Africa and Malawi which the Junior Flames won 1-0 through Kawonga’s solitary strike.
Mogale arrived in the country on Saturday and left the following day.
In a related development, Silver have turned down another South African club Black Leopards’ request to invite the player for trials.
The National First Division (NFD) side, through its local director Kondi Msungama, approached Silver to consider releasing Kawonga for trials, but the request was turned down.
“I approached Silver, but they said they could not release him,” said Msungama.
Mafuta-Mwale confirmed rejecting Leopards’ request.
