Kahata: Simba SC to loan midfielder to Gor Mahia

Kenya midfielder Francis Kahata is set to be loaned out by Simba SC, Goal can exclusively reveal.

The former Gor Mahia player signed for the Wekundu wa Msimbazi on July 4, 2019, and was the darling of the club fans for the past two seasons before he started warming the bench under coach Sven Vandenbroeck.

Kahata, has not featured prominently for the Tanzanian champions in this campaign and according to reports, he is set to be loaned out in the on-going mini transfer window.

“We have information the club wants to loan him out but they will pay his salary,” a source, who did not want to be named, told Goal on Tuesday.

“It is also believed Simba want to loan him out to his former club Gor Mahia, because he does not want to warm the bench anymore.”

The exit of Kahata will leave defender Joash Onyango as the only Kenyan player in the Simba squad for the 2020-21 campaign. Onyango joined Simba from Gor Mahia at the start of the season and has featured in all the matches the club have played in apart from the Caf Champions League return leg clash against Plateau United of Nigeria in Tanzania.

Meanwhile, Goal also understands the club is also set to release Brazilian winger Gerson Fraga, who underwent surgery a week ago.

On Tuesday, Simba SC chairman Mohamed Dewji said he was worried the team will not reach their target in the Champions League if they don’t come up with new ideas in the next round of the competition.

Simba qualified for the second preliminary round after eliminating Nigerian outfit Plateau United 1-0 on aggregate. They won the first leg played in Abuja and battled to a 0-0 draw in the return leg played in Dar es Salaam on Saturday.

Simba have since been drawn to face FC Platinum of Zimbabwe in the next stage of the competition after a 4-1 aggregate win against Costa De Sol of Mozambique.

The Zimbabwean champions won the first leg played in Maputo 2-1 before claiming a 2-0 win in the return leg in Harare on Saturday.

After watching Simba against Plateau United, Dewji has admitted the club’s coach Sven Vandenbroeck has a lot of work ahead of him to make sure he uplifts the level of the team’s fighting spirit and also come up with new ideas to reach the group stage of the competition.

“I am thankful to God that we have penetrated into the next stage,” Dewji said as quoted by Daily News. “I am not a coach but we need to uplift our level of fighting, train hard, and innovate with new ideas.

“During our game against Plateau United, we missed many scoring chances and excelled to stamp a big possession plus having more than ten corners of which none of them necessitated us to get a goal."

The first leg of Simba vs Platinum will be played on December 22 or 23 in Zimbabwe with the return leg planned for Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam on January 5 or 6, 2021.