Novatus Dismas: Azam FC winger seals move to Maccabi Tel-Aviv

Azam FC have confirmed their winger Novatus Dismas has completed a transfer to Israeli top-flight club Maccabi Tel-Aviv.

According to the club, Dismas has sealed the transfer after impressing the club’s scouts during a one-month trial.

“Azam have reached an agreement with Maccabi Tel-Aviv for the services of winger Novatus [Dismas],” the club revealed on their social media pages . “Dismas is joining the team after undergoing a one-month trial in Israel where he impressed the club’s scouts.

“He becomes the second player to leave Azam this window after Shaaban Chilunda also left to sign for Mouloudia d’Oujda of Morocco.

“Dismas, who was the young player of the year in the past season, was nurtured and brought up at Azam same as Chilunda before they all earned a promotion to feature for the senior team in the Mainland Premier League.”

The statement continued: “As Azam, we will continue to nurture young talent and also expose them to the world so that the players can achieve their dreams of always playing in Europe.

“We wish [Dismas] all the best as he starts a new challenge in Israel and also thank him for the services he rendered to the club when he was turning out for us.”

The exit of the two players comes at a time when the Chamazi-based giants are currently riding high on the league, as they are sitting at the top of the 18-team log with 21 points, followed closely by Young Africans (Yanga SC), who have 16 points.

Azam have registered a perfect record, as they have won seven matches from the same number of matches played so far this campaign.

In a recent interview, Azam assistant coach Vivier Bahati stated they are prepared to end the dominance of Simba and Yanga in the league.

“We set a target to go for the title this season, and when you set a target it means you have to win your matches all around, it doesn’t matter where you play, all you need is to go there and get the points, and so far so good, we have started well, we have won seven of our matches,” Bahati told reporters after the match against Ihefu.

“We want to change a story, we always have Simba and Yanga winning the league, all the time it is Simba and Yanga winning, but now we have to change the story and write another story by winning the trophy this season.”

The latest win against promoted Ihefu saw Azam break their own record they set in the 2015/16 season when they won six straight matches before Yanga held them to a 1-1 draw in their seventh match.