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Could it be talent ineptness, the style of play or attitude that is making most of our foreign-based players return back in the country to feature in the local premier league?
Or is it the growth, the competition and cash-flow in the Kenyan Premier League attracting them? There should be a problem somewhere.
All the same, a mechanism must be put in place by football administrators to monitor our professional players who join foreign clubs in-top form but after a short stint, they fail to establish themselves at the club, you hear them complaining of either less playing time or managerial issues leaving their careers in shambles.
talent galore
No more fence-sitting by Football Kenya Federation (FKF), football stakeholders and the players too must be courteous since the grass on the other side of the fence always looks greener. Naturally, we do follow our dreams but not all of them come true. So, is it a forward or backward step? First and foremost FKF should vet all the football academies in the country and support them fully to produce high class products before joining European clubs.The players should be fully equipped with all the fundamental football skills at a tender age to avoid the embarrassment.
A few of them have flourished namely Victor Mugubi Wanyama of Celtic FC, Dennis Oliech (AJ Auxerre), Mcdonald Mariga (Real Sociedad) and Arnold Origi (on loan at Fredrikstad), meaning that our products are superb. But for the rest, we can say it has just been a flop.
professional move
In the recent past, we have experienced most of the highly touted new-emerging talent going to waste on moving to foreign clubs, cursing their early decisions and as a result KPL is their destination.
It’s really saddening to see careers of many talented players going into flames. The list is very long but to begin with, 2010 KPL player of the year George Blackberry Odhiambo was hot-wire leading Gor Mahia FC to a second finish in the league before joining Randers FC in Denmark. The player was once quoted saying that he’ll have to move if the club doesn’t give him enough playing time. Though he’s still at Randers his stay is speculative.
2008 KPL golden-boot winner Francis Ouma was forced to make a home-return to Sofapaka FC, having been bought at Kshs 0.25M from Portuguese side G.D Tourinzense at the expiry of his loan term. After being off-loaded last season by Batoto Ba Mungu, Ouma has returned back to his former club Mathare United.
laws of the land
Moses Arita was another victim. The prolific striker left Thika United FC in September 2011, leading the KPL top-scorer’s chart with 10 goals out of 21 matches after landing a three year deal with KF Tirana in Albania. He had been peddled as the golden-boot winner but at the end of day, he lost everything.
Arita together with another Kenyan international James Situma who had joined the Albanian club some few months earlier, were forced to return back into the country in search for travelling documents after the Albanian immigration department altered the work permit rules.
The new laws stipulated that a foreign player must have a Visa indicating the contracted years before being issued with a long term work-permit. But in the case of both Arita and Situma they had short-term work permits hence forced to re-apply. Arita has since joined his former club while Situma moved back to Sofapaka FC.
more coming back
At the end of the 2011 KPL season, joint golden-boot runners-up Mike Baraza was on the verge of joining a Malaysian side before the deal turned sour and he had to rejoin AFC Leopards again as his counterpart from Tusker FC Hillary Echesa signed for Johor.
The final month of the transfer window that kicked-off on December 1 last year, has been busy than ever with more foreign-based players trickling back into the local scene.
Harambee Stars midfield magic Jamal Malo Malo Mohammed of Targu Mures (Romania) recently signed for Mathare United FC, a club that honed his skills in the last decade after failing to establish himself at the club, bewailing few playing time. The highly talented Jamal has only played six matches for the Romanian side since joining them in 2011 from Kazma FC in Kuwait.
regrettable decisions
As the two months transfer window unfolding continues, there have been media reports of former AFC Leopards defender Collins Kisuya complaining of lack of enough playing time at his new Belgium club Beerschot AC. The player is said to be deeply thinking of making a comeback to KPL as the club is laying-off most of its players due to financial constraints.
All is not over as Allan Wetende Wanga has also joined AFC Leopards for the 2012 season, after his one year contract expired with Vietnamese side HAGL. And with the trend continuing, we don’t know who will be next.
quick action to be taken
As the regional football powerhouse, Kenya should be leading in talent exposure, advocating for most of it's star players to ply their trade abroad. Unfortunately it’s the reverse instead of the so called ‘role models’ going for greener pastures and improve on their careers, joining superlative leagues abroad, they are retrieve back home.
Who will set a platform as well as market for the upcoming talent? Yes, we have the talent but how will we nurture and inspire it into stardom? Where will the next Oliech and Wanyama come from? Or is it devious deals by the players’ agents?
This is food of thought and it’s better late than never, something must be done urgently to control the situation or else we’ll continue pointing fingers at each other as the football standards continue to depreciate.
