Kaizer Motaung Jr has addressed the allegations that certain Premier Soccer League (PSL) teams complicate transfer talks with Kaizer Chiefs by placing high price tags on their players.
Chiefs are typically linked to the PSL’s top players during nearly every transfer window, but they end up losing out on the majority of those players — either because negotiations break down or because clubs simply reject their bids because they do not meet their asking price.
There is a belief that fellow PSL teams tend to increase the price tag of their players whenever Amakhosi come knocking on the door.
The valuation of Velebayi was crazy
In the off-season following their relegation from the top flight, Cape Town Spurs set an asking price of R10 million for their star and captain, Asanele Velebayi.
“I think the valuation of Velebayi was crazy; I think Chiefs, to be honest, was very fair on their proposal, and, in my opinion, they could have still added some more add-ons,” said Velebayi’s agent, Lance Davids.
“They did not because they thought they were also fair on their proposal, and the deal fell through.
“At first, Cape Town Spurs wanted R12-million; they came down to R10-million, and the Chiefs’ offer was R5-million [including other players as a package].”
Motaung Jr., however, disproved the notion that clubs are invariably challenging when negotiating transfers with Chiefs.
It is the nature of negotiations
“To be fair, I don’t even entertain that,” Motaung Jr told Sunday World last week.
“We and all the other clubs are partners. We are stakeholders in the league; we need each other — they need us, we need them, and it’s a situation of us coming to negotiations,” he said.
He went on to say that because every club wants to retain its best players for as long as possible, it is challenging to navigate the market.
“They [clubs] will always have their standpoint and want to keep their best players. If you had to ask me, anybody coming to ask, ‘sell us [Mduduzi] Shabalala’, I would say no,” Motaung Jr said.
“So, it is the nature of negotiations, part of the industry and the business. Every club has goals that they want to achieve. We also have ours. It’s about us engaging positively and trying the best we can to achieve the goals.
“We respect them, and they respect us. It is part of the industry, and you find that worldwide.”
