‘I Have To Pay Kaizer Chiefs To Relesase Me’ – Former Club Flop
One of the biggest things Kaizer Chiefs sporting director Kaizer Motaung Jr as well as coach Arthur Zwane preach is transfer strategy.
The pressures of playing for a club like Chiefs in South African football are second to none, with some players not realising that until they sign.
Others may think they can cope with such pressures because they had previously played for big clubs in other countries, or because they’re national team players. But as soon as they sign for a club of the magnitude of Chiefs, they soon began to realise how different the demand is for a stellar performance is, week in, week out from their fans.
One such player who eventually found out the worst way is former Ugandan international Godfrey Walusimbi. The left back joined Chiefs from Kenyan giants Gor Mahia amid much fanfare, but would eventually last just 6-months as a Glamour Boy. According to the player, the club paid more than R1.2 million to sign him from the Kenyan Premier League side and he soon became a regular for then coach Giovanni Solinas.
But soon, things would turn for Walusimbi, who, after some unconvincing showings quickly found himself becoming out of favour at the club. Chiefs then found themselves in a goalkeeping crisis in that 2018/19 season and sought an experienced goalkeeper to replace the injured Itumeleng Khune at the time. That search got them to Daniel Akpeyi who eventually ended up signing for the club in that January transfer of 2019, and even went as far as playing an instrumental role the next season, as they missed out on the league on the final day of the season.
But for that move to materialise, Chiefs had to sacrifice one foreign player on their squad as they had reached their full quota. Speaking to KickOff, Walusimbi reveals that he was the unfortunate sacrifice, but was never going to agree to the initial terms of his departure, a forced last minute loan to a PSL rival.
WALUSIMBI PAID CHIEFS TO RELEASE HIM
“I just wanted to be released without any payment, but they (Chiefs) refused insisting on that I pay R1.2 million. I got mad because they now wanted money from me for a situation that they created. It became chaotic because I was fed up with what they were doing to me. In the end I had to pay back part of the R260 000 {$14350.43} that they had paid me earlier that January as part of my signing on fees for me to get released. I never got any money for leaving Chiefs, but instead paid them back their money” said Walusimbi.
Walusimbi retired from football in October 2022, ending a career that started in his native with SC Villa back in 2007. The 33-year-old has now set his sights on a coaching career.
