By Tafadzwa Chigandiwa
The Swazi Premier Soccer League club, Manzini Wanderers FC are reportedly closing in on a deal to rope in current Bosso coach Mandla ‘Lulu’ Mpofu.
The new development was reported by Eswatini’s newspaper the Times.
According to the article, Mpofu who so far has lost two consecutive matches for the Bulawayo giants was supposed to travel to Eswatini last week.
“He was initially supposed to travel to Swaziland last week after receiving an invitation letter from Manzini Wanderers to come and join the team as head coach for the 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 season.
“But he became held up as Zimbabwe were playing Ethiopia in a world cup qualifier on Sunday. Wanderers have shown interest in signing him and have officially through a letter made the offer,” reads the Times report.
Lulu’s coaching job at Highlanders has reportedly been under scrutiny of late, after failing to defend the Chibuku Super Cup tournament two weeks ago.
He got knocked out in the quarter-final stage of the competition after losing by a goal to nil to rivals FC Platinum.
Moreover, last week the gaffer also suffered a 2-0 defeat away to army side Black Rhinos in Bosso’s league opener.
There are rumours that Bosso who at the moment are financially capacitated after securing a mouth-watering deal with the giant oil company Sakunda Holdings are already looking for a substantive coach.
Recently, reports have indicated that former coach Pieter Hendrik De Jongh who last won a silverware for the club in 2019 may see a re-union with the Bulawayo giants.
De Jongh won the 2019 Chibuku Super Cup tournament beating Ngezi Platinum, courtesy of a controversial Prince Dube’s solitary strike from outside the box.
This was before the Dutch coach left for money bags FC Platinum who later fired as a result of not having the CAF required coaching qualifications.