Mayele at crossroad over spell at Yanga   

In Mainland Tanzania Premier League, Fiston Mayele has continued to make the headlines as he is linked with either leaving or staying with his club, Yanga.

I just thought with the way the Congolese attacker is now valued, it will take a lot of money to prize the forward away from Yanga during the main transfer window.

World famous football portal dealing with the valuation of players, known as Transfer Market, has valued Mayele at 250,000 Euros (664, 000, 000/-).

Mayele has various offers on his table and, following the news and evaluating how it will end, depends mostly on the player.

The way the Congolese is famous in Tanzania, I am trying to imagine his stay and achievement, certainly his departure, particularly at this time, will be big news to domestic football enthusiasts.

He indeed has one year left in his contract with Yanga, money however is not everything in human life.

Right now Yanga is close to starting pre-season preparations but Mayele is roaming in the country.

Much as he has money in his pocket he has not gone far from Tanzania. I think he is happy with the way he lives in the country.

Who would not feel the pleasure to enjoy living here if he/she is financially stable? In this vacation, Mayele has decided to play charity games in the country given he feels happy to be here.

Several weeks ago, he was in Zanzibar playing in a charity soccer duel organized by former Yanga midfielders, Abdulaziz Makame and Feisal Salum.

He was escorted by the police after the final whistle because there were scores of fans that were keen on either posing for selfies with or greeting him.

Later he went to Morogoro to play a charity match organized by his Yanga teammates, Dickson Job, and Kibwana Shomari.

Now everyone wants to see Mayele, many soccer fanatics, even the ones rooting for his side's age-old rival Simba SC, appreciate his prowess.

This is a great time for soccer followers to measure the skill set of a player in his decisions. It is a time when the player finds himself stuck between resorting to better his life and valuing the support he enjoys from fanatics.

There are local players, some of whom have retired, whose quality matches Mayele's. They never played abroad because they found it difficult to abandon their favourite ways of life and seek greener pastures outside the country.

It is not surprising to see that many ruined their lives here despite being pursued by various foreign clubs.

Then came gifted local players who left the country to pursue greener pastures elsewhere, hoping to be cherished the same way Mayele is whilst clinging to their unacceptable habits.

When they went abroad, they still could not abandon their favourite ways of life, which violated their respective outfit's regulations, they deliberately wanted to fail so that they could return to the country.

One might find a popular local footballer either joining a certain club outside the country or heading for trials elsewhere but, within a few months, the same footballer will be seen in the streets of Dar es Salaam surrounded by a group of fans.

Later such a player will be heard he has made his way back and begun training with his previous club waiting for the new season.

Domestic soccer followers ought to avoid blaming the country's footballers too much. I am also trying to measure Mayele's intelligence and how he is loved in the country.

He might choose to take up the behaviours that some of the local players have but I hardly want to speculate too much over the matter, considering that Mayele is already outside his country.

Mayele can decide to either stay or leave and my first instinct tells me that the forward will stay because of the appreciation he enjoys.

The acknowledgment he enjoys whenever he moves to any part of this country can convince him to stay, given he is Congolese.

The Congolese, be they entrepreneurs, musicians, football players, and politicians cherish being loved and adored.

Mayele cannot be very different from his compatriots, although the main aspect that distinguishes him from fellow Congolese is that he is humble.

What I know is that even if Mayele decides to stay here, he will fully exploit his fame to make money based on having a lucrative contract.

This is where former and current local players have gone wrong. Many former local players who were cherished by top outfits were contented with turning out for the outfits, hardly having the determination to go elsewhere to seek greener pastures.

They were turned into fans of the sides and abandoned professionalism. Every great local player was known to have passion for a club he was turning out for and diligently fought for the interests of the club.

For example, former prominent Yanga winger, Edibily Lunyamila, successfully played for the club and was also a great fan of the outfit.

There were no times when he looked like he could seek better payment in another top club in the country like Simba SC. He somewhat changed soccer followers' mindset once the winger headed to Zanzibar's soccer big gun, Malindi.

However, the likes of Mayele are foreigners, such players can decide to be satisfied with the qualities of the country.

The footballer can decide to be content with a 20m/- monthly salary while rejecting a 30m/- salary which he could get from any of the wealthy Asian outfits that want to recruit him but the player can not stay in the country and get 10m/- salary.

The foreign players have come to wake their domestic counterparts up when it comes to valuing personal interests.

It started with Ugandan goal-getter Emmanuel Okwi and then came Zambian midfielder Clatous Chama, some of the most popular footballers to have won fame while turning out for Simba SC.

Okwi, at some point, featured for Simba SC's age-old rival Yanga, having been enticed by a lot of money, and Chama was on several occasions rumoured to be on his way to signing for Yanga for the same reason.

Tanzania's football fans are waiting to find out what Mayele can decide now. Yanga has a contract with him but it is something that can be terminated if the player decides to leave. It is also something that can be quite lucrative if he decides to stay.