PLYMOUTH Argyle head coach Paul Mariner is giving away no clues about whether or not the Pilgrims intend to sign Zimbabwe international left-back Onismor Bhasera.

After Argyle's 1-1 Coca-Cola Championship draw with Leicester City at Home Park on Saturday, Mariner declined to answer questions about Bhasera, who has been training with the Pilgrims for the past two weeks.

The 23-year-old is an in-demand player. He has been a transfer target for Portsmouth, who wanted to give him a three-year contract last summer and allowed him to train with them for the first half of the current season. He has since had trials with Queen's Park Rangers and Sheffield Wednesday, and he has also been linked with two French clubs.

Bhasera's move to Europe has been delayed, however, by a contractual dispute with South African top-flight club Kaizer Chiefs, whom he joined in 2007 after spells with Maritzburg United and Tembisa Classic in South Africa and Harare United in his native Zimbabwe.

Portsmouth tried to sign Bhasera last summer, on the understanding that he was a free agent, and the Barclays Premier League club secured a UK work permit, via an appeal, for the defender. Kaizer Chiefs scuppered the deal, though, by insisting that he was under contract to the Soweto-based club until July this year – and by demanding a hefty fee for him.

Pompey maintained their interest, despite the setback. "We are still keen on the player, but at the moment it is out of our hands," Peter Storrie, their chief executive, said at the start of January. "The argument is between the club and the player, and still it has not been sorted."

Kaiser Chiefs manager Bobby Motaung said: "Players must be honest, because the Chiefs will never block players from moving, but things must be done right. He has been listening to the wrong people."

Eventually, the transfer embargo at Fratton Park put an end to Bhasera's hopes of a deal there. Later last month, he was taken to QPR to train with the Hoops while former Pompey manager Paul Hart was in charge at Loftus Road.

The full-back's next port of call on his tour of England was Hillsborough. Sheffield Wednesday agreed to pay Kaizer Chiefs a fee to secure Bhasera's signature, but then a knee problem meant that the player failed the Owls' medical examination just before the end of January.

After the closure of the transfer window, FIFA reportedly ruled that Bhasera was a free agent, so he is free to join a new club without any recompense being due to the Chiefs. He has been at Home Park for two weeks, and he has impressed Argyle personnel with his prowess in training.

"We have two or three options in the Championship in England, and currently the boy is training with Plymouth," Bhasera's agent, Ralph Nkomo, told the South African media last week.

"The French teams Lens and Le Havre also want to sign him, but he prefers England to France because he speaks English. The good thing is he already has a work permit there."