Stewart Hall: Rupia flopped at Wazito, I have no place for him in my team
Wazito FC coach Stewart Hall says he is not interested in the services of lethal attacker Elvis Rupia whose loan spell with AFC Leopards ends this season.
Rupia joined Leopards during the January transfer window and has been in sensational form for the big cats who are sixth in the suspended Kenyan Premier League log with 40 points.
NOT IN HIS PLANS
He has scored six goals in the six league matches he played for Ingwe, taking his tally to 10 goals since he had scored four in the 17 KPL matches during his stint with the money bags.
The former Nzoia Sugar attacker was signed by Ingwe as a replacement for versatile attacker John Mark Makwatta who left the den for Zambian giants Zesco United after bagging 13 goals in the league.
“I don’t think he will return to play for Wazito because his future is somewhere else. I don’t like speaking ill of my players but Rupia lacked the mentality to do the job on the pitch here. That is evident on how he picked up at AFC Leopards after we released him” Hall said in an interview with Nairobi News.
The former Sofapaka coach said he had talked to Wazito owner Ricardo Badoer ‘The Big Boss’ about how he wants the team to be next season and insisted Rupia is not in his plans.
BIG FLOP
“His time here was not good and I’m not focusing on bringing him back. He was a big flop in our matches against Kakamega Homeboyz, Tusker and Ulinzi Stars. I have my plans for the team and he is not part of it,” added Hall.
Meanwhile, AFC Leopards Chairman Dan Shikanda has said Rupia’s future was a matter of discussions during the club’s NEC meeting last Friday.
“He is a good player and we would want to keep him. We will negotiate with Wazito because Rupia has been instrumental in helping us win our games since he joined us. We hope he will still be our player next season,” said Shikanda.
But the British coach insisted that he has a good squad which he will reinforce by signing three foreign players and a local one to ensure it competes for the KPL title next season.
TITLE CONTENDERS
“Wazito will be signing three foreigners and a local player. I have spoken to them and I can’t reveal their identities for now. They will be part of our squad next season as we strive to be title contenders and reduce the dominance of Gor Mahia,” said Hall.
The former AFC Leopards coach also called on the Kenyan football fraternity to hold a meeting and decide on the way forward on the 2019/20 season.
“Football stakeholders should learn from Ethiopia whose clubs and federations representatives held a meeting with the government and took a decision to declare the season null and void. Why can’t we have such a meeting here to solve the current stalemate?” he posed.
He added that with the 21 days curfew extension, it is impossible for the league to resume in June since players need to be given two weeks to train before the matches can go on.
Wazito, who were promoted to the top tier league at the beginning of this season, are 13th on the log with 20 points.