FAZ president Kalusha Bwalya says defender Stopila Sunzu who is attending trials at English side Reading will join Zambia at their Africa Cup base in Nelspruit by Friday.
Sunzu left South Africa to attend trials at Reading just a week before Zambia commence their campaign to retain the Africa Cup title when they face Ethiopia in the two teams opening Group C fixture.
Kalusha told Reuters on Tuesday that FAZ, TP Mazembe where Sunzu plays, and Reading had agreed that the defender should rejoin Chipolopolo by Friday.
“He will have enough time to have recovered from the journey by the time we play our first game,” he said.
“We have agreed with Reading, his club TP Mazembe and ourselves that he takes up this chance. Reading were quite insistent on seeing him so it is a good sign,” Kalusha added.
“The Zambia national team will always be there but opportunities like this do not come around often in a player’s career so we were happy to let him go,” the Zambia legend stated.
Good for the boy
For a man not boy!
ok
I support Kalu on this one. This is a chance for Sunzu. Opportunuties come only once; a bird in hand is better than none. As long as Sunzu joins the team by Friday 19th Jan, well and good. He will have the whole weekend to train and catch up with his chipolopolo colleagues. Who would refuse 20 K – 35 K pounds per week? Its an opportunity of a life time. Grab it Sunzu with both hands.
Ba Billy (Grande Patron) Mokonzi, what is 20K – 30K per week? I am lost please assist me. Is that K20 – 30 rebase or what? Then it is not a well paying job after all. TPM was better.
@Ka Gelo, I meant 20,000 – 35,000 UK Pounds per week. Mulebelenga naimwe ba Gelo. Tamwaishiba ama pounds sure? The K means 1000, hence 20k means 20,000.
***** thats 20-30 thousand a week
K means a thousand, hes means 20- 30 thousand pounds per week not kwacha please.
@Peter, Thanks for emphasising my point.
Hey, ‘K’ mean ‘000’ or better still thousand.
You fool, you don’t know what 30k is?
Ka Gelo K ni pin….
Have you forgoten the Y2K = the year 2000. so the 20K = Pound 20,000.
I agree with Kalu only for this as well. and what is Renard trying to buck on this issue. he is so stupid also and ungrateful what kalu he is insulting now is doing for him. its not for cash its for a career. that boy cant remain in congo or afirca. even if reading is struggling in the premiership and may be relegated into the championship but that matters less. football is better there and the boy needs to progress in his career. he will fit in back well when he gets back.
@Shimaini, correct, thats the point.
kudya mo ba kalu
We mbwa we
Ba Billy naba Peter, thank you very much, ala amasukulu ya night school lyalishupa. Twalilaba fyonse or naifwe twaliba rebased so emo tulefyumfwila. Thanks guys.
No problem Ba Gelo.
You are welcome ka gelo
Ka Gelo, am not supprised that you haveleft out Jerabo when you thanked the other 2 guys for educating you…We need to be ignoring Pipo with unproductive comments on this folla so that we keep our comments to the real issues…
@ Rebased Opinion, Whats the meaning of FOLLA?
That black guy behind Kalu, looks like Bob Manuel Udokwu, that Nigeria actor. Thats if you are familiar with Nigerian movies.
You all know that Kalu is also Sunzu agent and Will receive 15 percent. Renard is just concerned about his players that perform, do you blame him for worrying. Fact Kalu is not the most organised people, you ll come across. Reading showed interest in Sunzu back in October. They should of sent him in December.
Shimaini
Billy (Grande Patron) Mokonzi
Ba Red Card “Kelvin” naimwe, why do you have accuse Kalusha in everything? The man is just concerned about the interest of the player. This is an opportunity that comes once in a while. The winter transfer period closes end of January and if Sunzu is not signed now, the next period will only be in the summer. And who knows Reading will have changed their mind by then. Its not like Sunzu is going for good, but only for 5 days to be assessed and possibly signed. Then he will come back and join his colleagues. The thing is even at Reading he will be active during that assessment period. Sunzu has been with his chipolopolo colleagues for the past one month or so, so 5 days of absense will not change anything. And please dont involve Kalu concerning ifyakulyamo.
Jealous! Kalu isn’t allowed to be an agent
i support Kalu..atleast alibe ma jealousi..its a great opportunity for sunzu and for faz and Zambia as a whole if he gets picked..we dont want mufana akazi lila ma ‘asembe’…go get em sunzu!u live once and u only know if u try..and always keep trying!!and besides AFCON tee wina kale..tilindilila chabe ku tamba pa ma biscopu!!..ni nafuchi nafuchi
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ‘Mwana Nkana’ukumvwa lini koma weo ha ha ha ha but walasa !!One Zambia One Nation !! Ni mwa mene !!
The mor eplayers we have in these competitive leagues in Europe, e.g. the EPL, the better for Zambian football and the national team. This will also open other opportutnities for other Zambian players.
Red Card “Kelvin” sounds like Renards english. I am sure he is the writer.
Lets support the kid for this one chance it’s not everyone that has such an offer.
Mighty Mufurila wanderers for life!!!!!!!!
With all the money, I wish I was under 5, I would have lobbied to marry Sunzu, but those pimples, is the boy ok?
You cannot tell by looking go for a test girl!
Senegal had this problem during last Africa cup and the result was not good. While i understand why they had to allow him, i still feel someone did not do a good job to arrange for his UK visa/trip this late. This issue would be a by-gone for now but we now have to disrupt preparations ( tax payers money) at the expense of a player. For me, i would have suggested he probably gets excused from the the whole tournament. If this can’t happen, let him be excused from the first games. Most of those who have travelled such long flights will agree with me that this guy’s performance during the first game will somehow be negatively affected by this trip. Faz should learn to do better planing and do this in an organised way!!
100% correct
I agree with FAZA, jetlag would reduce his usual performance, but lets what happens. Cup defence is our portion in Jesus’ mighty name, son of the living God.
There is NO JETLAGE *****!! We are in the same time zone as the UK!!!! Jetlag happens when you travel to different time zones! Eish!
He will come back on 19 Jan and our first game will be on 21 Jan I think for me it is not a good deal he need to be physically fit before the game. we need to have that spirit of togetheness.
maybe he should have awaited, because he has already passed the trials. this boy is likely to perform well at this afcon and attract attention of bigger clubs at a higher price and higher pay. this could be the reason why Reading wants him to quickly sign before the afcon starts. any way, I still wish him all the best, it remains an honour for our country.
Kalu the great, mwaume.
Wake up!!
Faza and Kapaso, there is not any truth in your assertions of jetlag. How can Sunzu not recover when he returns on Friday, will have a full night sleep as well as Saturday. He can have light training on Saturday and Sunday. The game is probably on Monday afternoon and am sure the team will also have a light training on Monday itself. There is enough time for him to recover by Monday, so why should his performance be affected for travelling on Thursday to Friday, only 10.5 hours for your own info. Let him play all the games.
CAS, two flights of flights of 8-10 hours within a week, excluding his 2- to 3 hours of London/Jburg Airport processes will somehow affect his performance. Beside this, his absence from Camp is not favourable thing to the team as well. I may have missed out but i can assure you that someone in this kind of state of affairs can not perform at his best. I know he can still perform better than some of his colleaques but not at his best. Lets wait and see what happens- my personal view could be wrong!.
Perhaps after signing with Reading, he will concentrate on AFCON because he will be excited with his move. I could see he was not himself during Norway game. Let us leave decisions to the psychologists for now.
Is he the only defender in the team? If he is not fit for Monday, he can be benched and used against Nigeria! Why the fuss; you want other life to stop because of this AFCON where the most he will get is USD59K? Good luck to Mr ‘ I feel better’ (when asked about how he felt being the man of the match against Sundan at AFCON12!).
Ati ‘I feel better’…wansekesha sana KBM.
Good to see Kalu is maturing into a leader. He used to be jealous of young players making it. I remember how he was against Moses Sichone.
Funny how this president is too eager to talk to the foreign press at every given opportunity yet avoids the local press. This is typical Zambian docility being exhibited by this Kalu; he is happy to state that this boy Sunzu being subjected to trials a professional national player in this day and age yet there are videos of him playing at AFCON and continental cup. First they cheated you that he was going for medicals and agreeing terms now they tell you that its trials…
I wouldn’t be surprised if these crooks at Football House are double dealing in this boy’s transfer.
Wake up people!!
Kalu is the man, Sunzu’s future comes first so he was allowed to first secure his future and free his mind.
Jet lag kwisa uko, teams travel long journeys and till play the game the next day so wats your fuss?
Sunzu just concentrate on Reading for now and make sure u impress them and then “….U feel much Better, becoz….”
Leave KALU THE GREAT ALONE PLIZZ
When he gets Man of the Match after Nigeria game “because am very much better bicooz I signed to reading” I love the way he pronounces because,becooz lol!
All the best Sunzu,go and show the chili’s power! Lekeni aleya Umwaiche,his been with the team for a month,if he wasn’t allowed nga kuli ba FAZ ba jealous. Elo Katimbi has been behind the delay.
Sunzu is the Man!
Nothing positive can come from Jay Jay. Jealous blogger, leave Kalu and the rest alone. You loser.
Thank you very much!!
Resting him on first and play 45min on second can make him regain strength. However Nigeria to which Zambia plays on 25.1 will not be an easy taem hence the need to pull up socks 🙂
It’s a gamble. He may be more valuable after the AFCON or not.
Zambians please try to follow football we had the likes of Litana who used to arrive 24hrs before the game and played better than others. Sunzu is a seasoned player who should be able to cope with whatever situation he will find in the Zambian camp.
Kalu used to join the camp 3-4 days before the game, and he would even score unlike players like Zeddy Sailite who will camp for 30 days, 30 nights without scoring.
Reading will not go down,we have a very good club,with good players and staff. If he comes to us,he will not regret the move.Reading are a proper .,
not just a bunch of overpaid individuals. All we ask is that he gives us his best. Hope to see him soon.