AS Vita have one CAF Champions League title to showoff, but in their quest for a second, they have zeroed down to signing Rwandan International Ernest Sugira who current plies his trade with AS Kigali.
AS Vita head coach Frolent Ibenge, has been a big fan of Sugira whose size and height troubled defenders at the 2016 African Nations Championship where the striker scored three times for Rwanda.
AS Vita’s Sports Secretary, Raphael Esabe was quoted by Rwanda’s local newspaper New Times;
Negotiations are well advanced; we have sent an official letter (to AS Kigali) expressing our interest to sign Sugira, we have specified that we wish to sign him before the end of May so that we register him for the Champions League group stages
Much as the Congolese side had an option of singing Martinique Kevin Parsemain from Motema Pembe they opted to to court Sugira because Parsemain is ineligible to play for them in the Champions League, having already featured for his current club.
The deal might or might not materialize after Sugira asked for a whopping US$100,000 as signing on fee, but AS Vita Club are offering only half of that.
The 25 year old gigantic striker had last month expressed his desire to play outside Rwanda in search for a new challenge.
I still have three months left on my contract with AS Kigali, but I don’t think I will sign a new deal. My ambition is to go out there and find a new challenge. I want to try my luck somewhere else outside Rwanda but if things don’t work out, I will come back home.
Sugira told journalists in Rwanda in April after his man of the match performance in the AFCON 5-0 win against Mauritius where he scored a brace.
The draw for the group stages will be held on 24 May 2016 with the eight teams drawn into two groups of four.
Each group will be played on a home-and-away round-robin basis and it’s from their that the winners and runners-up of each group advance to the semi-finals.
AS Vita will be drawn against any of Algeria ES Sétif, Al-Ahly (Egypt), Zamalek (Egypt), ASEC Mimosas (Ivory Coast), Wydad Casablanca (Morocco), Enyimba (Nigeria), ZESCO United (Zambia).
