Shingi Kawondera has revealed how his former mentor Wieslaw Grabowski cost him a dream move to Dutch football giants PSV Eindhoven over two decades ago.

The retired midfielder, along with Eliot Matsika, spent two months on trials at the European club where they impressed and were offered contracts.

However, the transfer was never completed, and he put all the blame on Grabowski and “his puppets at Zifa”.

Posting on his Facebook account, accompanied by a picture of him and Matsika in the Netherlands, Kawondera said: “The midfield maestro Elliot Matsika – on that day we played the best football of our life, in 1998 at PSV Eindhoven.

“It’s a shame we never signed. I blame (Wieslaw) Grabowski and his little puppets who were working at ZIFA at that time. We made the grade and stayed there for two months.

“We signed our pre-contracts, but ZIFA never issued the international clearance certificate. I only realised later on that our parents’ signatures were the only stumbling block, Grabowski and his puppets at ZIFA never wanted to hear sh*t like that.

“But I ain’t complaining I wouldn’t take or add anything to my football career I enjoyed every moment and appreciate everything.”

Kawondera, however, did enjoy a decent professional career in Europe, playing for several clubs in Poland, Cyprus, and Turkey.

He retired from the game four years ago and is now running an academy in Ruwa with the help of Tinashe Nengomasha and Kelvin Mushangazhike.