Raja Athletic Club President Mohamed Boudrika has made his stance clear on Josef Zinnbauer’s request to lure Fadlu Davids to the Botola Pro giants.
Zinnbauer worked with Davids during their time together at Orlando Pirates, where he won the MTN8 title and led them to third place before resigning for family reasons.
Months later, he returned to football at Russian Premier League side Lokomotiv Moscow, where he roped in Davids – but their stint with the club was short-lived, as he left with a record of four wins, three draws, and eight defeats.
And since his exit in October, the German has been biding his time for his next move, with the publication being informed of an offer from Europe, while Richards Bay Chairman Jomo Biyela also approached him as a potential successor to Vasili Manousakis.
But on Saturday, Raja made their first contact for Zinnbauer after failing to convince Belgian coach Yannick Ferrera – who was their preferred candidate due to his ability to communicate in French, one of the official languages of the North African state.
Huge Twist In Situation
Mondher Kebaier, who was in charge upon the return of Boudrika, was sacked on Wednesday after failing to return to training for nine consecutive days, with the former Tunisia boss stating he needed heart surgery, before then later being found untrue.
Yanga coach Nasreddine Nabi and Tunsia legend Radi Jaidi were then contemplated another Belgian coach, but Zinnbauer then emerged as the leading candidate and agreed to take charge of the club by the club’s board, despite initial reservations about a language barrier.
iDiski Times has been informed that the German had insisted that Davids be part of his technical team at the club as he negotiated his two-year deal and talks prolonged for hours with the club President Boudrika where they deliberated his potential appointment.
However, they came to the consensus that he would require a local assistant to overcome the barriers of not being able to speak French or Arabic in order to hit the ground running and get his new tactical system across to the side that looks set to miss out on the CAF Champions League next season as they languish in sixth place in the Moroccan top-flight.
His former assistant Patrick Rahmen, whom he worked with in the Bundesliga at Hamburg SV is now poised to join his technical team, with the current Switzerland U21 coach able to navigate him by speaking French – as the club were not willing to hire an interpreter.
Former Hassania Agadir coach Abdelkrim Jinani has been selected as the local assistant.
Raja are still in the semi-final of the Moroccan Throne Cup and group stages of the Arab Cup and Zinnbauer has been set a mandate to compete for the domestic cup title.
