Chronicle EditorTHE departure of several Kaizer Chiefs players has been met with mixed reactions from fans on social media.
Amakhosi announced a massive clear-out on Wednesday, releasing eight players from the team.
In a series of posts on Twitter, the club revealed the names of players whose contracts will not be renewed, ahead of the new era under coach Arthur Zwane who signed a three-year deal last week.
The club announced that Samir Nurkovic, Lazarous Kambole, Lebogang Manyama, Daniel Cardoso, Leonardo Castro, Daniel Akpeyi, and Kearyn Baccus won’t have their contracts renewed at the end of this month.
Former coach Stuart Baxter’s son, Lee Baxter, was also released from his contract, while Anthony Akumu Agay has been transfer-listed.
“The club and goalkeeper coach Lee Baxter are going their separate ways. Lee arrived at Chiefs in February 2018 and worked with a number of head coaches and goalkeepers. Thank you and all the best Mr Baxter,” said Chiefs.
“The club has put Kenyan defensive midfielder Anthony Akumu Agay on transfer. The club will listen to offers from other clubs for his services. Like Kambole, Agay also arrived at Chiefs from Zesco and netted twice in his 47 appearances,” the club added.
The clear-out comes after the team’s management admitted that Chiefs are going through a tough period after failing to win a trophy in seven seasons.
Previously in their 51-year history, the longest Amakhosi went without silverware was a season.
Kaizer Chiefs football manager Bobby Motaung said the situation is not as bad as has been depicted.
“The drought, yes, we are a club that has been winning trophies historically, but there’s a challenge there. That’s why there are the rebuilding phases, a new project to bring in a young coach and young technical staff with a vision and passion of winning.
There’s hunger in them to try to achieve something, and there’s a fresh team coming up and trying to win something. I think that’s where we might find a solution.”
On social media, many fans had a meltdown over the massive clear-out, while some hoped it would come with positive results. – TimesLive
Online Reporter