Mufulira Wanderers Football club has refuted claims that they failed to secure an air ticket Nigerian player Youssuf Balogun who is currently in prison after he was declared a prohibited immigrant by the immigration department.
According to a statement by club Chief Executive Officer Chimwemwe Manda-Luzendu made available to the ZamFoot Crew, The player was never signed by Wanderers but was on probation but later left the club on his own accord hence was released without playing a game or being registered.
The Wanderers CEO revealed that the club despite accepting that the situation the player has found himself in is regrettable, They have tried by all means to help and are not responsible for the said situation.
A story published in one of the local newspapers today claimed that Mufulira Wanderers Football Club failed to procure an air ticket for him to return to his home country when his contract was terminated in July last year.
BELOW IS THE FULL STATEMENT:
It has come to our attention that an ill-researched article, concerning the welfare of one of our former players, has been published and gone viral across social media platforms.
We would like to set the record straight by clarifying the following points:
Youssuf Balogun came to Mufulira Wanderers Football Club (MWFC) for trials and the club bought him a return ticket that was valid for 1 year up to February 2020. The player left the club on his own accord during his probation period, which led to him being released from the club without him ever being registered or featuring in a game. At that point in time, he still had 6 months during which he could leave the country. He opted to stay within the borders of the country in an attempt to allegedly find employment with another club.
We paid $1000 towards the fees owed to his Agent who subsequently failed to utilize the funds to assist the player’s return to Nigeria. In October this year (8 months after his return ticket expired), he was detained by immigration, and again MWFC on humanitarian grounds facilitated some funds to ensure his release, and those funds were not used for the said purpose by his representatives.
As things stand, we acknowledge that the situation the player finds himself in is very unfortunate but it is not in any way the fault of the club. Despite these facts, we have continued to render support to Mr. Balogun on strictly humanitarian grounds. We are in the business of football and as such, player welfare is paramount to us irrespective of the circumstances. We sympathize with Mr. Balogun’s quagmire.
Lastly, we wish to call on all media personnel to ensure that they research their articles well before bringing the name of individuals and institutions into disrepute.
We hope that this clarification will be able to reach out to all stakeholders.
Chimwemwe M. Luzendu
Chief Executive Officer.
