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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
CHICKEN Inn are closing in on defender Pawell Govere, the only Division One player that made the Warriors’ squad for the African Nations Championship (Chan) tournament held in Cameroon at the beginning of the year.

The 26-year-old Region Division One side Golden Eagles’ defender in the Northern Region, has impressed Gamecocks coach Joey Antipas during his trial stint.

Govere, who found his way into the locally assembled Warriors’ squad after impressing national team coach Zdravko Logarušic during a practice match in the build-up to the Chan finals, has been training with Chicken Inn since April.

Antipas said they intend registering Govere alongside former FC Platinum and Chippa United defender Elvis Moyo when the next transfer window opens on July 1.

Moyo’s contract with Chippa was terminated in September last year just a year into his two-year deal that had a one-year add-on and he has been training with the Gamecocks.

“We intend to beef up our squad when the window opens by registering at least four players, defenders Govere and Moyo as well as midfielders Sipho Ndlovu and Tafadzwa Kutinyu. We couldn’t register Moyo and Kutinyu because of international clearance issues. Sipho was injured, but he’s on the road to recovery. As for Govere, we needed time to assess him and we’ve seen that he can fit into our system.

The club (Chicken Inn) has been negotiating with his parent club Golden Eagles,” said Antipas.

Chicken Inn used all their registration slots, with Antipas saying he will wield the axe at the end of the month and loan out some players to make way for Ndlovu, Kutinyu, Moyo and Govere.

Ndlovu started light training last week after missing pre-season due to a nagging knee injury that saw him missing out on registration for the Chibuku Super Cup.

Antipas said they are relieved that scan results of the player’s knee showed that the midfielder didn’t need an operation, which would have kept the former Bulawayo City star out of action for a long period.

“Sipho had a knee problem, which I think developed last year because in 2019 he was fine and so was he when we briefly trained last year.

The scan results suggest that he is okay and there is no need for a serious operation. What he just needs is to build his muscles otherwise we’re happy that he started light training last week.”