Ugandan left-back Godfrey Walusimbi only stayed at Kaizer Chiefs for just six months but his signing and release both came with boardroom drama with his career then sinking to an end the following year.
Walusimbi joined Chiefs from Kenyan club Gor Mahia at the start of the 2018/19 season with Giovanni Solinas in charge though the Italian was then sacked and replaced by Ernst Middendorp before Christmas.
"I had been with Gor Mahia for almost five years, so I wanted a new challenge and Chiefs provided that in that it was an improvement as well in all aspects including my salary which went up three times right away," Walusimbi tells KickOff.com from home in Kampala, where he now lives.
"I didn't even hesitate a bit when this move was proposed with the plus being that my contract was almost ending.
"I had a buy-out clause in my contract with Gor Mahia plus my contract was almost coming to an end after all at the end of 2018.
"The issue was that Gor Mahia didn't want to let me go even because we were playing in the Champions League though Chiefs had met that buy-out clause fee.
"Gor Mahia raised the price because they felt Chiefs had been doing player tapping all along which is why they even threatened to go to FIFA.
"I don't know how much Chiefs eventually paid but I think it was more than my buy-out of USD70 000 (approx. R1,268 million).
"With all the noise that was happening I told Gor Mahia that I'm leaving because I'm chasing my dreams and believe that the contract should be honoured.
"Chiefs didn't want their name being dragged into the mud in the media and chose to protect their brand by going out of their way to get me even though I had told them not to pay more than what was in the contract.
"Gor Mahia was losing nothing by creating all this chaos.
"In the end, I moved to Chiefs after they reached an agreement with Gor Mahia," explains Walusimbi.
Walusimbi only lasted half a season at Chiefs during which he was a regular playing 17 games before he was surprisingly offloaded on transfer day in January 2019.
"There was a huge case of miscommunication because by being at Chiefs I wanted to be challenged instead of being the one challenging which happens when you are at a smaller team.
"So, in saying that I didn't expect to go to a smaller team after Chiefs where I would then be the one challenging.
"In moving from Chiefs, it would have only made sense if I moved to Orlando Pirates or Mamelodi Sundowns but not lower than that regardless of how much I'm being paid.
"That aside, I was only told in the afternoon of the last day of the January window that I should go on loan to Chippa United.
"I felt this was unfair because the club had the whole January to inform me if they felt they didn't want me anymore seeing I was suddenly not a regular anymore.
"Chiefs obviously had all of this planned because Itumeleng Khune got injured and the club suddenly needed another keeper so they felt I was the foreigner they could sacrifice to bring in Nigerian keeper Daniel Akpeyi from Chippa.
"If I had been told earlier on about Chippa then maybe I would have accepted because I would have had time to consider my options.
"However, imagine I was only told at 15h00 on transfer deadline that I should go to Chippa, but I questioned the decision to only inform me so late and refused to leave.
"I refused to go to Chippa because it was a smaller team, so I asked that better they release me.
"In trying to push me to Chippa, they tried to soften me about being an international and in the end, I realised that I'm not wanted here anymore.
"All the same I made it known that I would not be going on loan and this I said in front of the Chippa officials who were also there at Chippa.
"There was no guarantee that Chippa were genuinely interested in me, I was just being added to butter the deal for Akpeyi.
"I just told the guys from Chippa that I'm not interested even though they pretended to be interested claiming they had seen me playing which wasn't true.
"If they wanted me, they would have come for me earlier and I told them I'm not joining their team.
"They were not frank with me, and I just refused to be part of this arrangement that didn't suit my interests.
"I could have gone there only to sit on the bench which would have been a waste of time.
"That is why I fought to be released so that I can then get options elsewhere.
Contract drama…
"I just wanted to be released without any payment, but they refused insisting on that I pay R1,2 million.
"I got mad because they now wanted money from me for a situation that they created.
"It became chaotic because I was fed with what they were doing to me.
"In the end I had to pay back part of the R260 000 that they had had paid me earlier that January as part of my signing on fees for me to get my release.
"I never got any money in leaving Chiefs but instead paid them back their money.
"That was the case, but it is all in the past now.
"I then had to register with Maroons FC in Uganda so that I get my clearance from Chiefs, but I never played for them because I then left for Albania where I played for a season before covid came in and I just quit," says Walusimbi.
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