Kaizer Chiefs chairman Kaizer Motaung feels Itumeleng Khune was poorly advised by his agent, ultimately resulting in his exit from the club.
Motaung was talking at the club’s press conference to announce the departures of Khune, Tefu Mashamaite, Mandla Masango, Katlego Mphela as well as coach Stuart Baxter.
The club also confirmed that Simphiwe Mtsweni, Chris Matombo, Levy Mokgothu, Zitha Macheke, Ovidy Karuru will be loaned out next season, and Siyabonga Nkosi and Josta Dladla have not been retained.
“We cannot be held to ransom by anyone, it does not take one or two players to make a team, it takes a helluva lot of players to make a team. So therefore we are not going to be held to ransom and hence we have decided to move on. That is a message that is very clear to everybody irrespective of who the players are,” Motaung said.
“If it becomes an issue of only money and nothing else, then this is the wrong place to be. We look after our players, in fact I can safely say to you that over the past season Itu was the highest-paid player in the League.
“How is it now that all of a sudden the money becomes an issue? But we understand that life should go on and people should be free to move on.”
Motaung added: “Itu’s case became more disrespectful when he sent us a note to say he’ll speak to us when he comes back on 18 June.”
The Amakhosi boss says the fact the Khune’s agent works from overseas may have been detrimental to the player.
“As far as Itu is concerned, it’s obviously without any doubt a lack of good advice. If you look at the players in the PSL right now, especially those that have their agents, the question you should ask is, what do the agents do for the players?” the chairman continued.
“You’ll realise that the only time we see agents is when the contractual issues come for negotiations, after that we see nothing. And of course if they are supposed to be managing these players, there are quite a lot of things we pick up in the media about the conduct of those players and also why they are in the papers. It just shows that there is no proper management of the player himself.
“The problem we were dealing with is, Itu’s agent is not even in the country, it’s either by email or phone, he obviously has a different way of doing things. I don’t know what sort of advice or input he makes into his player’s career, but standing outside it looks like it’s just bad advice.”
Football manager Bobby Motaung also denied suggestions that the club last engaged with Khune in February.
“That is not true,” he added. “The last email we got [from his agent] was after the end-of-year function. So it’s not true that we didn’t engage the player because the last communication was recent.” KickOff.com
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