Tanta SC have no money to sign Sofapaka striker Avire – Kalekwa

In a new twist of events, Sofapaka president Elly Kalekwa has confirmed striker John Avire will return home to play for the club this season.

Avire, who played for the Harambee Stars during the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations finals staged in Egypt, has been embroiled in a long transfer tussle with Sofapaka and the Egyptian side Tanta SC, with the latter claiming to have secured the services of the player.

However, Sofapaka maintained Avire was still their player and even threatened to report Tanta to Fifa for allegedly tapping up the player.

The move forced Tanta to open talks with Sofapaka over the signing of the player and with the Egyptian window shutting on October 20, Kalekwa now says he will return to Kenya to play in the KPL.

“[Tanta] are not serious in the way they are talking to us, they are talking as if they don’t know how transfers are done and concluded,” Kalekwa told Goal on Tuesday.

“After engaging us for the last few weeks and now they have not reached what we have asked them to pay, they have resorted to asking us if we can loan out the player to them.

“From the look of things, [Tanta] don’t have money and if they don’t have money, they should release [Avire] to return home. They are simply wasting the time of the player because when the window shuts down next week, we want to see Avire in Kenya.

“We gave them our conditions and they have refused to meet the same, we are not in a hurry to let the player go, it is them who need the services of the player and must fulfil our demands before we give the player a release letter.

“If they don’t do so, then they should forget about the player, release him and move on. If they continue playing the games they are playing, we have no option but to report them to Fifa.”

Kalekwa also confirmed a club from Zambia was keen to sign the striker and even tabled an offer.

“A top club from Zambia has approached me, in fact, they want to give us Sh5million for the services of the player,” Kalekwa continued.

“But it is now difficult to open talks with them because the Egyptian club is holding onto the player and lying to him he will finally play for them. It will never happen and they should know the same. Avire is a Sofapaka player and they should release him if they can’t afford to pay for him.”

Sofapaka have started the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) season without replacing the striker, who managed 13 goals for the club last season.