Coventry was keen to sign Zimbabwean trialist Benje Nkonjera but their hopes were in danger of getting dashed by the work permit problems. The 22-year-old midfielder, who had impressive manager Bobby Gould in training, had returned with Peter Ndlovu for Zimbabwe’s world cup qualifier against Egypt.
Bobby Gould said “That will only be his fifth full international game, which could mean we have difficulty in getting a work permit. But he has also played several under 23 games, which may help out the case.”
The work permit rules for football clubs meant that if a club wanted to sign a non-European player, the country had to be a top 60 in rankings in FIFA or the player was an established international having played a “significant” number of matches for his national side.
