EVENTUALLY, TP Mazembe owner, Moise Katumbi, has sanctioned Tanzanian international Mbwana Samatta’s transfer to Belgian premiership side, KRC Genk.
The Congolese billionaire, who previously objected the move over unsatisfactory transfer fee, has now given a green light to the player to seek professional stint in Belgium.
If the deal goes through, Samatta will be the first Tanzanian to feature in the Belgium Premier League, one of the top ten leagues in Europe. However, Samatta has several times shown interest to play in English Premier League as his career’s ultimate goal.
Genk is one of the big clubs in Belgium, having featured in the UEFA Champions League 4 times, participated in UEFA Europa League 6 times besides winning three league titles.
Samatta is expected to arrive in Dar es Salaam today to make final preparations for the trip. The player’s manager Jamal Kisongo confirmed yesterday about the trip saying his player wants to complete the deal before the end of the mini transfer window.
He said the intention is to ensure that everything is in place by early February. “Samatta went to Lubumbash to confirm whether TP Mazembe will retain him or bless his move to the Belgian side.
TP Mazembe wanted him to stay until April this year when his contract officially expires,” he said. Staying with TP Mazembe till April would make Samatta a free agent, a situation Kisongo said would devalue the deal. “It was lucky that Katumbi has understood the situation after persuasion and blessed his transfer to Europe,” he added.
Katumbi, according to Kisongo wanted Samatta to join a French Club, Nantes, a move that would enable the French side to pay TP Mazembe Euro 1 million and offer 25 per cent of the transfer fee if the club sells the player to another club.
Genk were ready to offer TP Mazembe Euro 800,000, but Katumbi had rejected, demanding Euro 1 million. In their contract, Genk have agreed to pay TP Mazembe 20 per cent of the transfer fee if Genk sell the player, but Katumbi wanted 25 per cent of it.
Samatta has been hunted by many other European clubs. According to French newspapers, L’Équipe and Stad’Afic, Olympique Marseille also made similar offer to the Tanzanian international.
But his legal team is unsure about whether or not they will be able to liberate the player from his pre-contract agreement with Genk. This is the same problem that Nantes ran into and failed to overcome earlier on in the transfer window when they were offered the player.
Previously, Samatta admitted to struggling from a moral standpoint, he feels as if he must honour the agreement that he made with the aforementioned Belgian outfit.
The Africa Player of the Year based in Africa, Samatta is well known in Africa for his goal scoring ability. He helped his team win CAF Champions League and was the top goal scorer for the 2015 Orange CAF Champions League as he scored one goal in each of the final leg.
He and his compatriot Thomas Ulimwengu, are the only Tanzanian football players to win the trophy. On January 7, this year, Samatta entered the gallery of fame after he was voted the CAF African Football Player of the Year-Based in Africa award.
/Daily News.
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