Tusker FC midfielder Humprey Mieno against Ushuru’s Kennedy Oduor in a past Kenyan Premier League match. .PHOTO/Raymond Makhaya
NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 22- Kenyan Premier League champions Gor Mahia have continued to add muscle to their squad ahead of next year’s title defense and CAF Champions League campaign, signing midfielder Humphrey Mieno and left back Wesley Onguso both on three year deals.
Mieno has been a long time target for Gor and came close to joining the record 16-time champions a few seasons ago from Sofapaka but a contractual stumbling block prevented the move. However, after he was dropped by Tusker FC, K’Ogalo finally have their man.
Onguso impressed for the national team during the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup and joins from 2009 champions Sofapaka. The left-back moved to Sofapaka in June from Western Stima but didn’t find favor in coach Sam Ssimbwa’s eyes, more often than not missing from the match day squad.
“We are strengthening the team for the Champions League and these are very quality signings we are making. I am more than confident that they will have a huge impact on the team and we will be a force to reckon with next season,” Gor Mahia Chief Executive Officer Lordvick Aduda said.
Mieno’s signing will be a plus for Gor especially with Kenneth Muguna set to leave the club re re-unite with former coach Jose Marcelo Ferreira in Albania with KF Tirana.
“We are still talking with the club and there is a high likelihood that he will be leaving. So we are already looking at contingency measures. Mieno is a good replacement,” Aduda added.
Meanwhile, the club has also been boosted with Ugandan Godfrey Walusimbi extending his contract by a further two years, but is yet to tie down captain Musa Mohammed whose contract ends next month.
Mohammed is also said to be eyed by Ze Maria for a re-union in Albania.
“Contractually, he is still our player but rules allow him to talk to any club if he has less than six months left on his contract. We are also talking to him to extend his contract but we will see how things turn out,” Aduda further said.
The club has already signed Nzoia Sugar midfielder Lawrence Juma, Western Stima’s Bernard Ondieki and Kakamega Homeboyz defender Charles Momanyi. They had already acquired the services of Ivorian Ephraim Guikan.
Also, youngster Oliver Maloba is set to undergo a two-week trial and medicals with Czech second division side FC Slovak from January 15.
Elsewhere, Tusker FC have reported Gor’s new signing Juma and Sofapaka’s new boy Stephen Waruru to the Kenyan Premier League for alleged double signing.
“As far as we are concerned, those are players that we had already talked to and signed, but they decided to sign elsewhere again. We have taken the relevant documents to KPL and we hope justice will be served,” Tusker CEO Charles Obiny said.
The club is on a rebuilding after releasing a massive 19 players who went together with former coach George Nsimbe. The brewers are set to name their new boss next Wednesday with three shortlisted from an initial list of 150.
Obiny has disclosed that all the three coaches are East African nationals.
