Bafana Bafana international Oswin Appollis was tipped to leave Polokwane City for a bigger and a better club in the concluded season.
The 23-year-old had shone for Rise and Shine in the 2023/24 season where he played 31 games across all competitions and scored seven goals and five assists in the process.
North African teams like Esperance, and MC Alger were chasing his services, with Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs leading the race locally.
How Appollis move to North Africa failed
In his recent interview, the player's agent Lance Davids explained how the Polokwane City boss jeopardized the potential move abroad.
“I knew it was going to go to the wire with Oswin, just because of his situation, he was in high demand from North Africa,” he told Metro FM.
“The problem was, I think if we’re all honest, the truth it was, [North Africa clubs] came in with the offer and the club owner accepted the offer, and he just went offline.
“It was really difficult, because dealing with North Africans is also difficult, because they work late at night and we worked like normal hours.
“It wasn’t easy, and we thought we’d gone through and then unfortunately the team Esperance found a replacement. Then, of course, it was dragging on, dragging on, and then, of course, the window went close and then it was MC Alger that came in afterward also.
“Then we just also couldn’t find the owner of Polokwane, struggling to get ahold of him. We thought it would be the same price tag. We just couldn’t get hold of him, unfortunately.”
What happened with Appollis' move to Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs?
“Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. In the last I would say, 72 hours [of the window], Sundowns came in. They had a chat with Johnny, and then he just went offline again,” Davids continued.
“To be honest, Kaizer Chiefs was really, really interested in him from the beginning, from the word go, we were trying to push, push, push and I was just thinking again like Johnny also always wanted or the club wanted one installment, wanted all the money upfront.
“I just don’t think Chiefs had that capacity to go but I think there was a deal to make it. I think [Kaizer] Junior was pushing, even BobSteak was also pushing hard to make this thing happen. But unfortunately, it didn’t happen.”
With his qualities, Appollis might get a new top team in the next transfer window.
