CHRISTIAN Joel Ntouba Epoupa’s move to South African side Ajax Cape Town fell through on transfer deadline day after Dynamos discovered that the “agents” who misrepresented themselves as the Cape Town-based club scouts, planned on prejudicing the Harare giants of any transfer fees.
BY HENRY MHARA
The two men, Louis Diefaiera who identified himself as the Ajax Cape Town chief scout, and Patrick Mitangu, were in the country last week, on a supposed scouting mission for the Urban Warriors.
The duo attended two local league matches, before drafting a list of players from Caps United, Ngezi Platinum and Dynamos, which they promised to submit to their club’s technical team for consideration.
On Thursday, on the transfer deadline day, they announced that they had settled for Epoupa in the immediate, claiming the striker has signed a two-year deal worth a staggering R2,5 million, with the rest of the other selected players set to be signed in the January transfer window.
However, Dynamos said they pulled out of the deal after suspecting that the two “agents” were fake, and trying to trick them on releasing the striker and making him a free agent.
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Dynamos president Keni Mubaiwa said he met with Mitangu who asked them to release Epoupa from his contract before they could start any transfer negotiations.
“We met a guy who introduced himself as Patrick who said he was from Ajax Cape Town. He asked us to de-register Christian first so that he becomes a free agent, before we can start any negotiations. We refused to that arrangement, we couldn’t take that risk,” Mubaiwa said.
“He then referred us to a Louis who they said is in Cape Town. He called us and try to negotiate but we told him the same thing that it was a huge risk to take.”
The Cameroonian missed Dynamos training session on Thursday as he tried to force through the deal, but the club stood its ground.
He joined the club’s training session yesterday after the deal failed to materialise, and joined up with the rest of the squad who are preparing for tomorrow’s big Harare derby against city rivals Caps United at the National Sports Stadium.
“I think they had already convinced him (Epoupa) that they will take him to Ajax, because he was now giving us pressure to release him, but we refused. We wanted things to be done in a proper way. He is still a Dynamos player,” Mubaiwa said.
Epoupa signed a two-year contract with DeMbare at the beginning of the season.
Diefaiera and Mitangu could not be reached for a comment yesterday but investigations by NewsDaySport reveal that the former is not a chief scout at Ajax Cape Town, as he claims.
Information on Ajax Cape Town website shows that the club’s scouting department is led by Sergio Dos Santos, who is the head of scouts, and the chief scout is Luis De Faria.