THE transfer window for domestic players has been brighten by Young Africans’ sensational signing of the veteran midfielder Jonas Mkude ahead of the coming season.
After being waved a goodbye at Msimbazi Street Reds, sports fraternity has been wondering about his next move and at the time when he was heavily linked to join the Chamazi based club, Azam as then, they were still signing players.
However, such speculations ceased when the Ice cream makers team announced that they have closed signing for this transfer window after sealing deals of four players.
Here, the wave of speculations changed direction with some saying Mkude was heading to Singida Fountain Gate who have been cool in terms of transfers while a few people speculated that Yanga was his next destination.
In between, not much was being heard about Mkude as the two giants; Simba and Yanga were busy signing international players who have joined the teams for the coming season.
Yes, for a talented player of Mkude status, he could not afford to miss a team for the next season as he has all it takes to offer for the success of the team he plays bearing in mind that he has vast experience of Tanzania football.
During one of his interviews, Yanga’s Media and Communication Manager Ali Kamwe disclosed that if a chance rises of winning the signature of Mkude, they will not hesitate to do so while insisting that he is one of the best midfielders in the country.
At this juncture, people began to closely associate Mkude with Yanga.
Suddenly, this came to pass on a quite Wednesday evening (July 12th) when Yanga officially announced Mkude as their own and they first unleashed an entertaining cartoon implicit brief video to parade the holding midfielder.
It showed a player wearing a green Yanga jersey number 20 holding a ball moving from one side of the pitch to the midfield section and at the back of his jersey, it was named Mkude.
After putting a ball at the centre of the pitch while looking to the opposite goal, a hungry Lion emerged which upon seeing the player it began to angrily run towards him.
When it reached close to the player, before mauling him down on the ground, he was quickly equipped with a machete which he remorselessly used to defend himself from being attacked by the hungry lion until it was easily subdued.
Here, the background noise of people cheering is heard as Mkude literally beats the lion that was close to endanger him and this was the end of the cartoon introduction of him that was shared million times through social media platforms and received plenty of acknowledgement.
His landing at Yanga has been well received by many of the club’s supporters who have been expressing their gratitude via social media outlets saying they expect to see a lot from him and that he still has potential to add value to their team.
The big question is, will he be able to easily fit in the Yanga’s Head Coach Miguel Gamondi philosophy? Of course, when a new coach comes in at a club, each player has equal chance to flourish since all play to convince him.
This is therefore an opportunity for Mkude to showcase his abilities and be able to win the trust of the Argentine trainer who is slated to test his guns on July 22nd when Yanga host Kaizer Chiefs in a friendly match to colour their Mwananchi Day.
There is a proverb which says, A new broom sweeps clean but an old broom knows every corner. This is in regard of Mkude’s transfer, as already stated, he knows everything about Tanzania football hence an old broom that knows every corner.
For Simba, after letting go of Mkude, they declared to offer him a befitting farewell parade during their Simba Day as one way of appreciating good deeds he has done at the club throughout his 13-year stay.
This was highlighted by Simba’s Media and Communication Manager Ahmed Ally who said on the day, two parades will be conducted by youth and senior teams in honour of their departed hero.
It is therefore a crossword puzzle as to whether they will go on with their intention as he has already been introduced by their traditional rivals who may not concede to let him go and embrace the Simba Day.
Another headline making domestic signing was that of Feisal Salum who moved from Yanga to Azam where he is parading at the moment which also put the nation on standstill.
So far, these are the two local transfers that have exploded the country as people wait to see their impacts when competitive matches of next season begin and best of luck to them.
