Gamtel duo Ali and Assan fail to land Rangers deal

Nigerian Premier League side Enugu Rangers have failed in their bid to land Gamtel duo Ali Sowe and Assan Ceesay alias Torres for the 2011/12 league season, Gambia Sports Online can report.

The highly-rated duo has returned to base in Banjul with Gamtel FC in the GFA First Division League. The two strikers Ali and Assan combined well for Gamtel during last season’s WAFU Cup competition where they were spotted by officials of Rangers and invited for trials in the Coal City.

The strikers were part of the victorious Gamtel side that defeated Senegalese side Cassa Sports 1-0 in their first round match of the Confederation Cup game at the Serekunda East mini-stadium last week.

“As soon as they got back to Banjul, we were reliably informed that they will not be coming back because they rejoined Gamtel for the Confederation Cup, so they will not come back again,” Rangers’ media officer Foster Chime said in an interview.

“But we are going to sign other players to fill that vacuum because we must reinforce the playing staff for the remaining matches in the season,” Chime added.

When contacted by Gambia Sports Online to confirm the story, Gamtel’s head coach Tapha Manneh said, “We are not aware of this news and we are still waiting for confirmation from Rangers about the players as negotiations are still on the way but to say my players have failed to land a deal, I cannot confirm that yet.”

Rangers are presently first on the Nigeria Premier League table with 19 points collected from ten games.