How Yanga president Hersi Said spent 24 hours in search of Aziz Ki's signature

The player's signing by Yanga, however, faced many challenges from rival teams both domestically and internationally.

It's worth noting that during the transfer window of the 2022/2023 season, Yanga did not perform well in the CAF competitions compared to Simba, who had better results and were in a good position to sign the player.

Simba were the first to notice Aziz Ki’s potentiality through the CAF Confederation Cup matches as on February 13, 2022, at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam, Simba won 3-1 over Asic Mimosas, with Aziz Ki scoring the consolation goal.

In the return leg held on March 20, 2022 in Benin at the Stade de l'Amitié Cotonou, Aziz Ki again proved to be a thorn to Simba, who lost 3-0.

Yanga fans at that time were eager to see Aziz Ki play for their team, especially after he scored against Simba in both legs.

Simba, on their part, also wanted Aziz Ki to be their player because of his impressive skills that pitted the two giants of Tanzania in a battle for signing him.

Yanga president Hersi Saidi said their fans were at the forefront of wanting Aziz Ki to be signed by the club and as a result they made every effort to ensure his signing was made possible and it eventually was.

So far, Aziz Ki has scored in three out of four matches he has played against Simba since joining Yanga.

READ: How Aziz Ki embarrassed Motsepe at Loftus Stadium in Mamelodi vs Yanga CAFCL clash

The first leg held on October 23, 2022 ended in a 1-1 draw, with the Burkinabe scoring the equalizer after Simba were the first to find the back of the net through Augustine Okrah.

In the second leg, Yanga lost 2-0 to Simba, however, Yanga went on to win the championship. In the 2023/2024 league season, Aziz Ki has scored against Simba in both legs, with a 5-1 victory on November 5, 2023, and a 2-1 win on April 20, 2024.

How the deal was struck

It was not easy for Hersi alias Injinia Hersi to snatch the signature of the Burkinabe attacking midfielder who joined the team in July 2022.

Hersi travelled over 24 hours trying to find his contact and forge friendship with the player.

How the route was

Hersi started the journey from Dar es Salaam to Dubai and then from Dubai to Casablanca in Morocco before connecting to the small city of Oujda.

The route means Hersi was sleepless due to flight connections so that he could meet Aziz Ki, whose team, Asec Mimosas, were to face RS Berkane of Morocco in the CAF Confederation Cup match the next day.

After arriving in Oujda, Hersi then travelled almost 75 kilometres to Berkane by road, spending almost one and half hours before arriving there at 1pm on the match day.

He said the journey was tiresome, but his purpose, he added, was to achieve his goal of meeting the player, who was also being sought by Simba.

Hersi said he attended the RS Berkane-Asec Mimosas match and later, with the support of former Yanga players, Fiston Abdulrazak, Tuisila Kisinda and by then RS Berkane coach Florent Ibenge, he managed to sneak into Aziz Ki's hotel room into which he introduced himself to and told the player about his purpose of travelling over 24 hours to seek his services for Yanga.

The Yanga top official recounted that Azizi Ki was so surprised at learning his long journey as well as at his purpose of going there.

He said the player was so excited to the extent of introducing him to his mother on the phone, whom he told the story about him (Hersi) and his purpose of spending more than 24 hours from Tanzania to Morocco.

Aziz Ki’s move of introducing Hersi to his mom, Hersi said, was a good opportunity to speak to her (Aziz Ki’s mom) on the phone as he asked for her mobile number and she as well asked him to visit her in Ivory Coast.

Hersi explained that his move was just to bring him (Aziz KI) closer to him so that he could reach his target of signing the player.

He said after returning to Tanzania, he had to start another journey of meeting Aziz KI’s mother in Ivory Coast, where he began to negotiate the deal.

He said Yanga tabled their offer that did not match with Azizi Ki’s value as it was the lowest of all other teams including that of Al Hilal of Sudan who were also interested in signing the player.

He said they rectified the club package and started to negotiate the deal again.

"I assured Aziz KI's mother that apart from her son playing for Yanga, I will be one of his guardians to make him succeed in his career. My statement was accepted 100 percent and I signed the player," said Hersi.

Hersi reiterated that the deal was struck and he was thankful to Yanga's sponsor, Gharib Said Mohamed, for his tremendous job of elevating Yanga's status.

He said Gharib had been at the forefront of seeing Yanga achieve their goal and that's why they had been asking their members and fans to support the club for their development.