Boteti accuse Chiefs of stealing

TSHEPO MOLWANE
Staff Writer | Tuesday July 8, 2008 00:00

 

The Democratic Republic Congo (DRC) forward is said to have absconded from Boteti and is reported to be training with the Kgatleng giants.

Boteti chairman Mazzola Lesifi told Mmegi Sport yesterday that they are not happy with the way the league champions have gone about recruiting the star striker. 'Towards the end of the season, he dodged our games claiming that he was injured, only for us to realise that he was in negotiations with Chiefs,' he said. Lesifi asserted that he talked to the player on Friday and made it clear that he is not allowed to train with any club because he is under contract with Boteti. He pointed out that they expected Chiefs to act professionally and negotiate with them to release the player. 

'For him to be training with Chiefs is an insult. For us to release Ntumbayi, we have to settle $2,500 which we owe his former club in DRC. We are not going to stand in the player's way but we want Chiefs to follow the right recruitment procedure,' Lesifi said. He revealed that they have reported Chiefs to the Premier League Committe.

Chiefs communications officer Clifford Mogomotsi dismissed Boteti's claims. 'Boteti are bitter and at Chiefs we know the rules when it comes to recruiting players. Derrick has not trained with us and at the moment, I do not know his whereabouts. It is a fact that we are interested in him,' said Mogomotsi.

Premier League Committee administrative secretary Setete Phuthego said they have not received any correspondence from Boteti about the player but he confirmed that they have a copy of his contract. Efforts to get a comment from Ntumbayi were fruitless at the time of going to press. Ntumbayi performed brilliantly for the Boteti side, scoring 12 goals last season. His exploits won him accolades from the football fraternity and reports that he was targeted by some big sides emerged. However towards the end of the season, he started missing some crucial league games claiming that he was sick.

Interestingly, he played when Boteti put Chiefs' victory celebrations on hold in a draw. Those in the know claim that Ntumbayi played in that game to sell himself to Chiefs.