Marumo Gallants coach Dan Malesela says it was “painful“ to lose Junior Dion to AmaZulu during the January transfer window and a...
Marumo Gallants coach Dan Malesela says it was “painful“ to lose Junior Dion to AmaZulu during the January transfer window and at a time when the Limpopo club are sitting at the bottom of the DStv Premiership standings.
Malesela said the club worked extremely hard to get Dion to the level he is at right now and he expected a bit of protection from the management.
To make the pain worse for Malesela, Dion scored the equalizer for AmaZulu as they salvaged a draw against his former club at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday.
It was Dion’s second goal in the colours of Usuthu after scoring in the 4-0 hammering of Kaizer Chiefs at the same venue last weekend.
Gallants are now left with Yanga Chivaviro to rely on for goals now, leaving Malesela upset over the departure of his striker.
“First of all, it was not out of my wish because I think, beside everything else, I should say it personally, we worked so hard on Dion,” said Malesela when asked by iDiski Times about the loss of the Ivorian striker.
“Because when he came here he was not the striker he is now. And surely it pained me because I thought Dion when he leaves the club, the next move will possibly be overseas.
“Obviously [that was going to happen if] he got rid of injuries and stuff like that, but honestly I wasn’t happy at all. I wasn’t happy because I don’t know where you are going to get a striker like that.”
Instead, Malesela has signed Judas Moseamedi as his replacement, almost a month after he lost Dion to AmaZulu, who moved to the coastal city late last month.
“And with us, with no disrespect to AmaZulu, with us, I knew he [Dion] understood how we play and we would adjust easily,” added Malesela on Dion who scored when Gallants lost the Nedbank Cup final to Mamelodi Sundowns in May last season.
“He would know when to get into areas and know what to do in moments because there was a lot of synergy between him and other players. That’s why it was not a pleasant move for us.”
On top of Dion moving to AmaZulu, Celimpilo Ngema is also joining the KwaZulu-Natal club at the end of the season on a free transfer after signing a pre-contract with them, as reported by iDiski Times.
“The thing that worries me the most is that, for us every game that goes by, counts,” lamented Malesela on their situation.
“But I’m considerate of points above us – they are not too far off. But we must not lose the number of games while we are not getting points.
“But you can’t fault the players for what they did against AmaZulu, they really knuckled down.”
Marumo Gallants have just won two games this thus far, the least of any side this season, followed by the second from bottom Stellenbosch FC with three. They have collected just 15 points after 18 matches played.
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