Towering goalkeeper James Alitho has expressed readiness to play football again this forthcoming season.
The lanky shotstopper has been out of action for over a year now, after sustaining a knee injury that needed a major surgery.
Following months of treatment and rehabilitation, Alitho has now disclosed that he is ready to compete again.
The goalkeeper was also started as a striker, and he played for over an hour for Bugisu Province against Busoga at Mbale Stadium over the weekend in the FUFA Drum tournament.
Speaking to The-SportsNation, Alitho said, “I have been following the doctors orders, I got the medication I needed, and I feel so much better now. I am ready to play football again.”
“It has been a rough period for me, sitting out for all that time and seeing others play, but I feel great, and I am in good shape to start competing,” Alitho added, admitting that it has been a rough recent past for him.
The 2019 Uganda Premier League (UPL) Golden Glove winner with URA FC has literally not really played football since then, with a number of obstacles consistently coming his way, one, immediately after another.
The outbreak of Covid-19 immediately after he had joined a new team, then limited playing time and injuries too have all affected the once very promising goalkeeper who impressively played for the national team just a few years ago.
Once at Vipers, Alitho left URA midway in the 2019/20 season to join Zambia’s Zanco following expiration of his contact with the Ugandan side.
In Zambia, things did not go so well for the Ugandan goalkeeper, so he resorted to returning home, to his former club that welcomed him back, and gave him a two-year contract in mid 2021.
In his first year, upon his return, he had to battle for game time with Nafian Allionzi who had since established himself as the undisputed custodian at URA.
In his second year, the doctors warned that he had to get a surgery for a knee injury he had sustained earlier, or it would escalate and become more difficult to manage.
Since his return to URA in mid 2021, the goalkeeper has only managed a handful of appearances altogether for the Tax Collectors.
Now still working to improve on his physical fitness, and having to sort out his contractual issues with the club to see if they can work together again, Alitho is very certain of one thing, that he is in good shape to play football again.
Meanwhile, The Tax Collectors already started their preseason training early this month.
