Revitalised Flames striker Atusaye Nyondo has signed a season-long deal with University of Pretoria from SuperSport United.
Ama Tuks coach Steve Barker and some of the team’s supporters have expressed delight at the signing of Nyondo, who fell out of grace at SuperSport United where his chances of regular game time became slim this 2013/2014 season.
“He arrived this morning to finalise some of the paperwork in the office. He will join us for training tomorrowmorning. I’m sure he will fit into the team nicely. He is a good addition to the team,” Barker told Soccer Ladumaon Friday.
The team’s manager Graham Ooshuis confirmed to Kickoff Magazine two days ago that Nyondo is on a season-long deal with the side that finished eighth on 40 points last season following promotion to Premier Soccer League from the First Division in 2011.
However, the Malawian international forward has a huge task of restoring happiness in the Ama Tuks fans, who expect him to fit into the shoes of their goalscoring machine Senegalese Mame Cheikh Niang, who has rejoined SuperSport United.
Niang scored 10 goals in Absa Premiership last season and was fifth top-scorer before he left Ama Tuks in May.
One of the team’s fans Eric Ramasike commented about Nyondo’s signing on Kickoff Magazine: “Good signing Barker; it was obvious that Niang left a gap upfront.”
Another supporter identified as Queen2theChiefs simply put it this way: “Hope you give us goals wena (you) Nyondo.”
Nyondo, who scored the Flames’ goal when they saw off Rwanda in a friendly on Wednesday, spent the better part of his sojourn at SuperSport United warming the bench.
He had an encouraging start at United in the 2011/2012 season scoring seven goals after joining from Carara Kicks, but his scoring prowess recently grew cold.
Ama Tuks had two friendly matches against Black Leopards earlier on Friday. They won the first friendly 1-0 before drawing 2-2 in the second. They have so far suffered two defeats in their opening fixtures of the 2013/14 PSL season.
The University of Pretoria side suffered a 1-0 loss to Moroka Swallows on August 3, 2013.
In their second outing, they lost 3-0 to double champions Kaizer Chiefs, in the MTN8 competition.
