Inside Nyangige's transfer saga: Transfer window, fees at centre of Impala–KCB row

When the Kenya Sevens squad for the upcoming HSBC SVNS 2 legs in Montevideo and São Paulo was announced on Friday, 13 March, one name carried a story far deeper than a simple national team call-up.

David Nyangige, the explosive halfback who impressed during the Nairobi leg of the HSBC SVNS 2 at Nyayo Stadium last month, was included in the squad once again. But as he trains with the national team, Nyangige occupies a peculiar space in Kenyan rugby.

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Safe to say that he is currently the only player in the squad without a club.

Behind that unusual reality lies a complex transfer saga involving Impala RFC and KCB Rugby.

A journey built on opportunity

For Nyangige, rugby has never just been about the game. It has also been about building a future beyond it.

His path through the club system has been far from straightforward.

“I left Northern Suburbs in 2023 to join Strathmore before eventually moving to Impala during the 2024/25 season,” Nyangige tells Mozzart Sport.

Initially, he had hoped to combine rugby with academics at Strathmore University, where coach Louis Kisia was then in charge.

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“I was supposed to join Strathmore University under scholarship when Kisia was the coach. But when the management changed, the slots were no longer available. That is when I moved to Northern Suburbs,” he said.

When Kisia later moved to Impala RFC, Nyangige followed, hoping the new chapter would also help him achieve his academic ambitions.

“When I joined Impala, I was given several promises. The main one was that they would support my education, which has always been something very important to me,” he said.

A rising star on the Sevens circuit

On the field, Nyangige quickly began repaying the faith.

His performances during the 2025 National Sevens Circuit turned heads. At the Embu 7s, he crossed the try line eight times.

But it was at the 2025 Safari Sevens where his reputation truly soared. Playing for the Kenya Morans, Nyangige helped steer the side to a third-place finish, impressing selectors with his powerful ball-carrying ability and fearless attacking play.

The performances ultimately opened the door to the national Sevens setup.

Yet off the field, the promise that had drawn him to Impala, support for his education was becoming increasingly uncertain.

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The promise that stalled

Confident that the club would honor its commitment, Nyangige applied to study Information Technology at the Cooperative University of Kenya while continuing to play for Impala.

He even featured in the club’s 2025 Floodlit tournament campaign as he waited for the school fees support to materialize.

But according to the player, the assurances never turned into action.

“When the time came for them to fulfill that commitment, that is when the issues started. They kept telling me to wait, saying the club was not in a good financial position and that they had many things to resolve,” he continued.

Despite the delays, Nyangige continued to represent the club through the 15s season and later the Sevens circuit.

“I kept playing, hoping they would notice the value I was bringing to the club,” he said.

When the Sevens season ended, and there was still no progress, Nyangige says he made the difficult decision to walk away.

The KCB opportunity

Shortly after earning a national team call-up and featuring at the Safari Sevens, Nyangige says a potential lifeline appeared.

“After the tournament, I spoke with Kisia, who told me that KCB had agreed to take me to school,” he said.

The message was later reinforced in the national team camp.

“At the national team camp, I was with Amonde, who confirmed the same thing. They asked me to go ahead and apply for the school,” he explained.

But what seemed like a straightforward move soon became complicated. For the transfer to go through, Impala needed to sign a release letter allowing Nyangige to join KCB.

“When I went there, they told me that since I had already played for the national team, they could not release me for free,” Nyangige explained.

He maintained the move was centered around education rather than finances, but negotiations soon turned to the transfer fees.

“KCB offered Ksh50,000, but Impala declined and demanded Ksh100,000 instead,” he reveals, adding that the discussions dragged on, and time ran out. “Before anything could be resolved, the transfer window closed, especially because the December window is very short."

What followed, according to Nyangige, was a communication breakdown. “After the window closed, I kept asking questions, but I was not given clear answers. It reached a point where they stopped communicating with me altogether,” he said.

He even travelled to the club in person to try to resolve the situation, but the discussions did not move forward. Some senior Impala players later tried to convince him to return and continue playing for the club, but Nyangige declined.

Instead, he turned to the Kenya Rugby Union for help. “I wrote to KRU requesting to be deregistered from Impala. I was told the process was possible and that they would follow up on the matter."

According to Nyangige, the union informed him that if Impala failed to respond within a few weeks, he could be deregistered and declared a free agent.

“At the moment, I am still waiting for feedback from KRU to know whether I have been officially deregistered,” he said.

Should that happen, the KCB opportunity would still be available. “KCB’s offer still stands if I am fully deregistered."

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Impala’s Position

Impala RFC, however, has strongly rejected claims that it blocked the player’s transfer.

In a letter obtained by Mozzart Sport dated 10 March, the club said it had no objection to Nyangige joining KCB and had communicated that position directly to the banking side.

“Impala has no objection towards David’s move to KCB, and this position has been directly communicated to KCB Rugby Club,” the club stated.

However, Impala maintained that the transfer request failed to follow the proper regulatory process. According to the club, the education-based transfer request was submitted after the official transfer window had already closed.

They also noted that the admission letter from KCA University was dated a week after the window deadline.

Impala further stated that the standard transfer fee for national team players, a long-standing practice between clubs, had not been honored.

“For clarity purposes, the fee requested by Impala RFC is the same amount that was paid for national team players who transferred between the two clubs for over three years,” the club maintains.

The club also claimed that KCB eventually withdrew from the transfer.

Waiting for the next chapter

The matter now sits in the hands of the Kenya Rugby Union, with Regulation 14.12 of the KRU constitution allowing a player to deregister from a club under certain circumstances.