Tiero on ?250m loan to Kotoko

Liberty Professionals’ attacking midfielder, William Tiero’s move to the camp of defending league champions, Kumasi Asante Kotoko has been put down to a year’s loan move that cost Kotoko a quarter of a billion cedis.

Liberty sources hinted the Soccer Express yesterday that the national player would be expected to return to Liberty at the end of the yet to begin season when the loan deal expires.

The contract sum was to be split between the player and his club, with Tiero pocketing ?100 million while Liberty picked the remaining ?150 million. He has already been on target for his new club, fetching an equaliser on Sunday in a match against city rivals King Faisal in the on going Coca-Cola Top Four tournament. Kotoko eventually lost the game 2:1 though but Tiero’s outing could be a good signal of great things to come from his move.

Tiero also featured in the club’s first tournament match against his mother club, won 1:0 by Kotoko.

In that instance he came on as a substitute, and was later to describe the experience of playing against his former club as a ‘very difficult’ one.

He is hoping to settle in the victorious squad as soon as possible and perhaps hook a regular shirt. He told journalists after his first match with Kotoko that he expects to integrate into the Kotoko set up as soon as possible since majority of the players in the side have been his mates at the national teams, particularly the Black Meteors.

Other Kotoko players who have been in the national team camp in recent times have included goalkeeper George Owu, Michael Ofosu Appiah, Michael Osei, Stephen Oduro, Yusif Chibsah, Edmund Owusu Ansah, and Charles Taylor, nearly all of them first team choices at Kotoko.

Accra Hearts of Oak were highly tipped to register Tiero for the up coming season, but inconclusive talks with the speeding midfielder over contract terms sent him out of the grips of the Phobians.

While at Liberty he established a deadly partnership with gangling striker Asamoah Gyan and winger George Yamoah and the absence of the trio has greatly affected Liberty’s performance in the Coca-Cola tournament. The team has played two games and lost both so far.

Tiero moved to Kotoko with two other colleagues from Liberty; the nimble footed George Yamoah and the hard tackling Sam Addo while Asamoah Gyan has been out of the country on trials prospecting for a foreign contract.