Buy out contract or return, Chipuwa told
Former Be Forward Wanderers goalkeeper Richard Chipuwa has to buy out the remaining two years of his contract within six months or his transfer to Mozambican club Desportos de Chingale will be revoked.
The on-and-off Flames goal-minder was among a contingent of six Malawian footballers that last week joined various clubs in the neighbouring country just before the transfer window closed.
Wanderers general secretary Mike Butao in an interview on Wednesday disclosed that Chipuwa was released on a six-month loan deal, but Chingale can sign him permanently if he opts to buy out his contract.
According to article 17 of Fifa regulations for the status and transfer of players, a player can buy out his contract primarily on the amount of his salary still outstanding.
“If he is not able to pay us, then we have asked him to come back and play for us until the end of his contract,” Butao explained.
But Chipuwa’s agent Kenie Giggs said he was not aware of the development.
He said Wanderers only asked the player to reimburse K800,000 signing-on fee he pocketed.
“It’s not correct to say that the agreement is that he must buy the contract. The arrangement which I am aware of is that he has been told to pay back the signing-on fee. We expect to pay them off before his loan deal expires,” he said.
But Butao dismissed Giggs claims saying he was not saying the truth.
“I am surprised with his claims because we have never dealt with him. The point is that Chipuwa must pay the amount of money stipulated in the agreement or come back,” he said.
He could not reveal the set fee for Chipuwa’s remainder of the contract saying that will be contravening the privacy of the goalkeeper.
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) facility and transfer matching system manager Casper Jangale confirmed that Chipuwa and Wanderers signed a pact which stipulates that the player must buy out his contract if he wishes to remain at Chingale.
“I think the agent is not being honest because FAM was a witness when Chipuwa and Nomads were signing the agreement,” he said. n
