The club finished fourth in the just-ended season and is now led by a Motswana, former Botswana Football Association (BFA) head of competitions, Olebile Sikwane, who is the club's CEO.
Recently, the club expressed a desire to sign Cooper after his failed move to South African Premier League side, Cape Town Spurs. “When you play CAF Champions League and Confederation Cup you’ve got to be ambitious and make sure you get the best soldiers for the battle. Trust me, Cooper would do wonders for Tanzania.
He’s one of the few most complete players in Africa at the moment,” Sikwane told South African publication, FARPost. However, early this week Gaborone United (GU) announced that Cooper has returned to the club on a one-year deal. Cooper was in the colours of GU last season, but the club had allowed him to explore a move to Spurs or outside the country before he could consider re-signing for the club. This week, Sikwane said that Singida did not table a formal offer to Cooper for various reasons.
“We just discussed the name Cooper at length internally and our Head of Scouting presented a colourful picture of the boy to the club. I didn't want to be seen to be conflicted, advancing my own compatriot,” he said. Sikwane said the club later decided to go for a striker instead of signing Cooper. “Unfortunately, we then got a Nigerian striker and found ourselves constrained by the foreign quota. I then immediately asked the agent to perhaps explore other options because Cooper must play football,” he said.
The Singida official also said it is only a matter of time before Cooper moves to other established leagues abroad. He would also not rule out the possibility of Cooper landing at Singida in future.
“I consider Cooper as one of the most industrious players in Africa today, almost complete as a player. I reiterate he's a top-class player; he's going into CAF competitions (Confederations Cup) now it will be difficult for me to compete with the rest of Africa for his signature. Let us wait and see. I so wish he could go to Eastern Europe, or maybe even somewhere in the Middle East, he's a good player.”
