Johnson U-turns On GU Move
Chakalisa Dube | Monday September 21, 2020 13:13
Johnson signed a pre-contract with GU in January, but it has since emerged that he changed his mind about the move and wants to remain with the Ostriches after the latter tabled him a lucrative offer.
Just after he signed the pre-contract with GU, Orapa offered him a two-year contract reportedly worth P13, 000 a month salary. He was to join GU next season. Johnson is a GU player by virtue of having signed the pre-contract.
Sport Monitor has established that Johnson has engaged authorities at Orapa United to intervene and negotiate his release from GU.
Sport Monitor has also learnt that GU financier, Nicholas Zakhem has in recent days been in talks with Orapa officials in a bid to reach an agreement not he cancellation of Johnson’s pre-contract.
Sources have indicated that Zakhem is open to letting the player go back to Orapa and an agreement will be reached soon on the matter.
On Friday, Zakhem was not willing to discuss Johnson’s situation in detail with the media.
“Johnson has signed a pre contract with us. That is public knowledge. I do not want to be drawn into discussing more details surrounding the said contract,” he said.
Johnson recently told Sport Monitor that he intends to remain at the Ostriches, but said that he would only be willing to comment further once he has signed a new contract.
Orapa United spokesperson, Kabo William was also reluctant to discuss emerging reports that Johnson wants to cancel a pre-contract he signed with GU.
“For now all I can say is that we are still in talks with Johnson regarding the renewal of his contract. We are hopefully that we will reach an agreement with him soon,” he said.
Meanwhile William told this publication that the club would only decide if it would participate in this year edition of the CAF confederations cup in the first week of October.
“We are still doing consultations with various stakeholders. Participating in the confederations cup under the current circumstances (COVID-19 situation) is not easy. It is also taxing financially. That is why we need to undertake thorough consultations before reaching any decision,” he said.
Sources have said that Orapa’s chances of taking part in the competition were very slim owing to budgetary constraints.