Da Gama sad to lose Sam to Celtic
Highlands Park coach Owen Da Gama has slammed Bloemfontein Celtic for not honouring their promise to give the Lions of the North option to sign Bongani Sam permanent.
Bongani Sam of Celtics and Thabo Matlaba of Orlando Pirates during the Absa Premiership match between Bloemfontein Celtic and Orlando Pirates at Free State Stadium on August 19, 2018 in Bloemfontein, South Africa. (Photo by CharlŽ Lombard/Gallo Images)
Sam, who scored the winning goal for Siwelele against Orlando Pirates on Sunday, spent last season on loan with Highlands in the NFD and helped them gain promotion to the Absa Premiership.
“When we scouted him in 2016 with the Nedbank Ke Yona team, we saw his potential. He was drafted to Celtic and we approached them to ask if we can loan the boy with an option to keep him permanently,” Da Gama told Phakaaathi.
READ: Da Gama sad to lose Sam to Celtic
“To be honest Celtic lied to us, they said they would give us the option and we invested a lot in this boy. We worked hard with him and they just snubbed us (at the end of the season) and gave him a new contract.
“When they drafted him, they took him to their ABC Motsepe team. We brought him to the NFD and worked with him hoping he would be a long term investment, but it was a big trap set for us. But at the end of the day we all learn from the things that happen in football. We will make sure that we will learn to be smart next time when loaning players,” Da Gama concluded.
Highlands will face Mamelodi Sundowns in their third game of the season at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Wednesday at 7.30pm.
Da Gama’s side have collected two points in as many games.
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