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Thiong’o: AFC Leopards too broke to afford Kakamega Homeboyz star – Shimanyula
The Kakamega-boss reveals to Goal their attacking midfielder will not leave the club in this transfer window
Kakamega Homeboyz chairman Cleophas Shimanyula has taken a swipe at AFC Leopards for their repeated declaration they are keen to sign Peter Thiong’o.
The attacking midfielder has also on many occasions openly stated he would love to leave Homeboyz for a new challenge and Ingwe have come out as one of the teams keen to acquire his services.
However, Shimanyula has now told Goal Thiong’o is a Homeboyz player and will not leave the club and went on further to accuse AFC Leopards of unsettling the player.
“AFC Leopards are simply broke and cannot afford to buy Peter [Thiong’o], they should try to sign players from elsewhere, they don’t have money to pay for the player and we all know they are struggling financially,” Shimanyula told Goal on Wednesday.
“The problem with [Thiong’o] is that he is a young boy who has gotten carried away with telling his stories to the media, I guess he likes to be seen in the newspapers and online all the time, he has not approached us that he wants to leave and I don’t think he will leave this season.
“I have just seen rumours AFC Leopards are interested but honestly speaking, they don’t have money to pay for his services, I know they cannot afford him so we should not discuss the player anyway.”
Thiong’o was part of the Homeboyz squad that did exceptionally well in the 2019-20 campaign where they almost beat Gor Mahia to the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) title before the season ended prematurely owing to the effects caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
After ending the season, Gor Mahia were declared champions on 54 points, while Homeboyz finished second, seven points behind and they still had a game in hand.
Shimanyula is still adamant Gor Mahia were lucky to be crowned champions for the third season in a row as his side were in a very good position to beat them to the title before the pandemic.
“Gor Mahia should always thank their God because were it not for Covid-19, Homeboyz were primed to lift the crown,” Shimanyula continued.
“We only needed to win our remaining matches and I knew Gor Mahia was to lose because they still had tough matches to play, adding that to the game we still had in hand, then we were the favourites to win the title, not Gor Mahia.”
Football Kenya Federation (FKF) is yet to confirm when the new season will kick-off.
