Simba SC have found themselves on the wrong end of a transfer twist involving striker Suleiman Mwalimu, who has now joined Yanga SC after initially appearing to have completed everything required to move to the Wekundu wa Msimbazi.
Mwalimu is understood to have returned to Tanzania yesterday from Moroccan club Wydad AC with plans to join Simba, after the club had reached an agreement to sign him on loan.
Simba handled the arrangements to bring Mwalimu from Morocco to Dar es Salaam before the striker travelled to Zanzibar, where he joined the Simba squad.
Mwalimu trains with Simba
After arriving in Zanzibar, Mwalimu joined his teammates and took part in Simba’s training session as the club prepared for the new season.
But that was not the end of the story.
The striker also took part in other team activities that evening, including having dinner with his teammates, further reinforcing the impression that his move to Simba had already been completed.
However, behind the scenes, there was something Simba did not appear to know in time.
Yanga knew the situation
According to the reports, Yanga already knew that although Simba had reached an agreement with Wydad to take Mwalimu on loan, an important financial step had yet to be completed.
That was when Yanga entered the process.
The strong relationship between Yanga President Engineer Hersi Said and Wydad officials enabled the club to obtain accurate information about the status of Mwalimu’s transfer.
Yanga then took advantage of the opening to complete the process of signing the Tanzania national team striker on a season-long loan.
After the deal was completed, Mwalimu left Zanzibar during the night and returned to Dar es Salaam to complete the final formalities and sign his contract with Yanga.
Simba left stunned
The incident left Simba officials stunned, as the striker had been with their squad until late that night.
But by the following morning, everything had changed.
Instead of seeing Mwalimu as a Simba player, the club’s fans woke up to unveiling photos of him as Yanga’s newest signing on the club’s social media pages.
In short, Simba had him at night, but by morning, he was a Mwananchi!
