Moorosi Tsiane

BANTU is racing against time to keep defender Bokang Sello, whose contract with the league pacesetters ends this month.

Archrivals Lioli revealed last week that they were chasing Sello, who is their former player who left for Bantu two seasons ago. And now they want the player back.

Bantu president technical Panyane Phiri confirmed that Sello’s contract was ending this month but they would soon start negotiating with the player for an extension.

“His contract is ending this month but we have already told him that we are keen to keep hence we will soon start negotiating with him,” Phiri said.

He said he wasn’t aware that Lioli had already spoken to the player.

“With footballers you will only be confident when they have signed a contract. They will promise you things and disappoint you. If Lioli has approached him, there is nothing wrong with that because his contract is ending this month. Since he is a valuable player, most clubs would want to sign him.

However, as far as I am concerned, he is still interested in staying at Bantu but we will only be certain once he has signed,” he said.

Phiri said Sello has impressed the club in the last two seasons that he has been with the club.

“He is one of most the disciplined players and it has been a good two seasons with him. He was out injured for some time but we are still happy with his performance.”

Asked why they waited for the contract to end before negotiating a new deal, Phiri said they had to wait for the PLMC and LeFA to decide the fate of the 2019/20 Econet Premier League season.

“We couldn’t just negotiate or sign players without knowing the way forward regarding the league season. However, now the PLMC has made its decision, we will start negotiating with Bokang and all the other players whose contracts we want to extend,” Phiri said.