Local football giants, Extension Gunners and Gaborone United (GU) are destined for a collision course over the signing of Tshepo Maikano. Following reports that the player has signed for GU, Gunners have come forth to claim the player as theirs, something which GU say is not the case.
Speaking in an interview on Friday, Gunners’ Public Relations Officer (PRO), Keorapetse Kgasa said it is his team’s belief that they have an agreement with the player and they expect him to turn up for the team. “Officially, Tshepo Maikano is our player. We have reached an agreement with him to come play for Gunners and we paid him his signing on fee, and he even trained with us thereafter. There was a discussion between him and Gunners and he agreed to the terms offered and he accepted our signing on fee before he disappeared. The next thing we heard was that he was at GU while we were not aware of that,” the Gunners PRO explained.
He said after the rumours started flying that the player has signed for GU, Gunners wrote a letter to GU warning them that Maikano is contracted to them. According to Kgasa, they are still awaiting for a response from GU to shed light on the issue. Quizzed on whether their claim of the player can hold water since the player had not signed a formal agreement, the Gunners PRO said a contract cannot be restricted to just a written agreement.
“We had not penned an agreement with Maikano but we had a verbal contract with him and part of our agreement has already been fulfilled. While he has not signed contract papers, the fact that we have had other agreements which he signed with us, which though we cannot divulge will show evidence that we have agreed with him,” the Gunners PRO said.
He said as things stand, they are waiting on Maikano to come back to Gunners to inform them on what is happening or for GU to respond to their written query. Kgasa said should either Maikano or GU fail to respond, they will be left with no other option except to take the issue to the Players Status Committee. Contacted for comment, GU’s Media Officer, Kennedy Ramojela, confirmed the capture of Maikano. Asked whether there was any communication from Gunners regarding the player, the GU Media Officer said he has no knowledge of such communication. He however said as far as GU know, every dealing with Maikano has been above the board.
“Our understanding as a team is that the concerned player has no contract with Gunners. We have checked with the relevant authorities and we are satisfied that the player was a free agent when we signed him,” Ramojela explained. The GU Media Officer further said as far as they can tell, GU has followed all the set rules and regulations in signing Maikano. “If he took the signing on fee from Gunners, we are not aware. However, if they believe the player is theirs, they have to prove that a signed agreement exists between them,” the GU Media Officer declared. He said as the situation is, Maikano is with the team at the moment and will be unveiled with other new players before the team leaves for Potchefstroom next week.
