Seventeen-year-old Highlanders Football Club attacking midfielder Prince Ndlovu was denied a visa to travel to Croatia for a month-long trial.
Ndlovu is back in Bulawayo, with his representatives said to have travelled to South Africa on Monday to lodge an appeal.
The Bosso teenage sensation received an invitation to attend trials at Croatian second-tier club HNK Vukovar 1991 that is scheduled to start on Friday, February 10 and end on March 9.
Impeccable sources told Chronicle Sport that one of the officials, presumably the player’s representative who is supposed to accompany Ndlovu to Croatia “is making frantic efforts” to try and have the visa appeal attended to so that the player leaves by Thursday. Said the source:
Prince is back in Bulawayo having spent about two weeks in South Africa where he was processing his visa for Croatia. Unfortunately, the application was denied and one of the two guys who is supposed to travel with him is in South Africa to lodge an appeal.
They feel there are strong grounds for appeal and at the moment everyone’s keeping their fingers crossed that they manage to get the visa so that the boy travels for this lifetime opportunity.
According to an invitation letter signed by HNK Vukovar 1991 president Ivan Strek which was also used for the initial visa application, Samson Kabwe and Nduduzo Sibanda are supposed to accompany Ndlovu for the trial stint.
Kabwe and Sibanda are travelling as the player’s coach and administrator, an indication that the pair could be facilitators of the deal.
Highlanders communications officer, Nozibelo Maphosa told the Chronicle that Ndlovu is back in Bulawayo after attending to personal matters in South Africa.
Reports, however, suggest that the winger who left the country a fortnight ago had been training with Orlando Pirates while waiting for his visa.