With his current deal lapsing in June next year, Owino had been a subject of a transfer to Tanzanian league giants Simba SC but the move collapsed with the Tanzanians saying he was too expensive for them.
Gor’s Deputy Secretary Ronald Ngala told Capital Sport the Harambee Stars centre half was yet to respond to their new proposal dragging the will he-won’t he stay saga into the third week of the KPL transfer window.
Owino is still around and as far as we are concerned he is not going anywhere. We have offered him a two year contract extension and we hope he can remain with us because of the tight schedule we have next year,” Ngala added.
The defender is a highly sought after commodity with a number of European clubs and one in Zambia in the race for his signature.
At the same time, Ngala has hinted they may be able to finalize on ‘one or two’ transfer targets this week though they have been slowed down by lack of finances.
“It has been a bit difficult for us landing our transfer targets because of the tough financial status we are in at the moment. However, we have might be able to conclude one or more transfers by the end of the week,” he lamented.
Gor might find it hard however, in capturing their long time target, Muhoroni Youth’s Ezekiel Otuoma with his club saying the player is not for sale with Chairman Moses Adagala saying they are not willing to sell as he features prominently in the club’s 2015 plans.
“We performed well in the just concluded season and our plan is to push for a top five finish in the coming season. Otuoma is one of the core players of our set up and neither do we plan to offload many players. We will only drop four, with three going out on loan,” he emphasised.
However, Ngala wears a brave face saying they will pursue talks but disclosed they were slowed down with lack of clarity in Otuoma’s contract.
“The player (Otuoma) told us he had six months remaining in his contract but the club says he still has a contract running to the end of the 2016 season. We are still trying to identify the truth in this and once we do so, we will know whether to further pursue or not. I think it will be harder if he has two years remaining in his contract.”
Gor Mahia are set to report back to training on January 3 in preparation for the CAF Champions League and defence of their premier league title.