Agent clears air on Nato�s status
Boitumelo Khutsafalo | Wednesday February 24, 2016 13:15
Paul said his client was a free agent when he joined Township Rollers recently on a four months contract.
“Nato’s contract with Atletico de Kolkata ended on December 31. He was a free agent when he joined. It cannot be a loan agreement because he was not contracted to any club when he joined Rollers,” Mitchell told Mmegi Sport from South Africa yesterday.
The confusion surrounding Nato’s status follows two protests delivered at the Botswana Premier League (BPL) offices over his eligibility to play for Rollers. Both Gilport Lions and Mochudi Centre Chiefs filed protests with the BPL this week saying his registration was improper.
He played for few minutes when Rollers defeated Gilport Lions 3-0 in a league match a fortnight ago and went on to help Rollers to a 3-1 win over Chiefs in the first leg of the Mascom Top 8 semi final.
Rollers have since pleaded innocence on the matter and argue that they signed him on a free transfer.
The confusion also came from reports that the Indian side had reportedly said they have an agreement with him to return to the club in August.
However Mitchell said the only thing his client and Atletico de Kolkata have is just a verbal commitment to return to India where he will sign a contract after returning from Botswana.
“He is not on loan and does not have any contract with Atletico. His contract came to an end before the transfer window opened.
As you know the Indian League runs just for four months from September to December so it would not make sense for a player to sign a contract up to June. His contract was up to December and FIFA says a free agent can join any club at any time,” he further said.
Nato also confirmed that he had no contract with Atletico as it expired in December. Roman','serif';mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US; mso-bidi-language:AR-SA'>The ‘It’s On Us’ campaign is an international campaign that was launched by the White House in the United State of America calling for protection of college girls against abuse. WASBO expressed interest at the Nations Youth Leadership Summit that was held in Florida, USA and was given a go ahead to launch and adopt the campaign.