National Sports

Sailesi terminates contract, owed K7.5m by Zambian team

Flames winger Dalitso ‘Di Maria’ Sailesi has terminated his five-year deal with Zambian MTN Premier League side Lusaka Dynamos for its failure to pay him dues amounting to $10 200 (about K7.5 million).

The player’s agent Felix Ngamanya-Sapao confirmed the termination in an interview with the Weekend Nation on Thursday, claiming that his client had not been paid salary for four months and part of his signing-on fee.

No love lost: Sailesi has terminated his contract

“Dalitso took up the issue with me and when he came for the Cosafa Cup tournament last month, I advised him not to return to Lusaka until the issue is sorted out,” he said.

Sapao said he travelled to Lusaka last week where he met Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) club licensing and liaison manager Erick Mwanza on the matter.

“We followed all the required procedures. First, I wrote the club on June 11 giving them a 15-day notice to honour the dues as per Fifa regulations and there was no favourable response from them.

“That is when I took up the matter with FAZ who gave them [Lusaka Dynamos] five days to settle the dues, but still they did not,” he said.

The agent added that the termination of the contract was processed and FAZ gave the club last Wednesday’s deadline to settle the dues.

“Unfortunately, Lusaka Dynamos still did not honour the order, but it has been agreed with FAZ that they will settle the dues from the club’s SuperSport and MTN [Zambian Premier League sponsors].”

Sailesi cancelled his contract—which still had four more years—as per Fifa Circular 1625 on amendments of Player Transfer Regulations which state that if a player is not paid for two consecutive months, he or she is free to terminate a contract.

On the player’s future, Sapao said: “We will advise once we are through with the issue at hand.”

Dynamos officials could not be reached for comment, but Mwanza confirmed the the development on Thursday evening and promised to give a detailed response yesterday. However, he had not done so at press time.

On his part, Sailesi said he was still waiting to be briefed on the developments by Sapao.

“He told me that there are some openings in foreign clubs so I cannot really say what will be my next move,” he said.

Dynamos signed Sailesi, 22, from Nyasa Big Bullets in July last year at a reported transfer fee of about K25 million.

The player has made sporadic appearances for the star-studded side though.

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