. MWAPE

By FELIX MALUNGA –
IN a dramatic turn of events, Nchanga Rangers striker, Bornwell Mwape’s dream of clinching a professional deal in Sweden has flopped after failing to meet the benchmarks for Malmo FF.
Mwape, who according to his agent had impressed during the five-day trials, will not be offered a contract by Malmo because he is not better than the players at Swedbank Stadion.
Speaking after an evaluation of Mwape on Friday, the Swedish champions’ sports director, Daniel Andersson said while the Zambian was a good striker, the stance of the club was that if they were to recruit a new player, he should be better than the players in the team.
Andersson said a new player should be one who could challenge the old players for a starting line-up slot.
He said at the moment the current contenders, Swede Pawel Cibicki and Ghanaian Benjamin Fadi were better than Mwape and the club decided to stick to them.
“We concluded that we would not go ahead. Bornwell is certainly good, but our stance as a club at the moment is that if we are to pick up a new player, he has to be better than those already here and challenge the players in the starting line-up.
“At the moment the current contenders Pawel Cibicki and Benjamin Fadi are very good and we have decided we’ll not go ahead,” Andersson said.
He, however, said Malmo had a good working relationship with Mwape’s agent, Ryan Hartslief and hoped it would be more beneficial in future.
Hartslief of Bigtime Sports had last week said Mwape looked sharp despite the temperature sometimes dropping to as low as five degrees celsius.
He described Mwape as a star in the making, saying he was strong and had an eye for the goal.
Hartslief said Mwape could have been a perfect replacement for South African, Tokelo Rantie, who moved to English Championship side, FC Bournemouth recently.
“This boy has all the makings of star! He is strong and has an eye for goal. He could be a perfect replacement for Tokelo Rantie who was sold to Bournemouth FC not long ago. We will see how he goes,” Hartslief said.
Malmo, under coach Age Hareide, will participate in the UEFA Champions League play-offs next season.