Kaizer Chiefs have made initial contact with Stellenbosch FC over the potential signing of forward Ashley du Preez but no agreement has been met.
Chiefs have been long-term admirers of the Stellies academy product who’s scored nine goals in the DStv Premiership this season and has been sounded out as a potential target over the past 12 months.
However, with Stellies inserting a buy-out clause into his current contract, they held the upper hand over Chiefs to retain their attacking talisman for the 2021/22 season.
iDiski Times understands Amakhosi made contact once more with the club’s management on Monday to open provisional talks about the transfer and while they met the demands for captain Zitha Kwinka, the move for Du Preez might be more challenging.
Kwinika was given the blessing to return his boyhood club with a significant pay increase while he made his intentions clear to the club that he wanted to return back home to be closer to his family again after two years in the Cape Winelands region.
Contrary to some social media speculation, no agreement has been reached with the Soweto giants and Stellies over Du Preez yet, but Chiefs are willing to offer a player-plus-cash deal to sweeten the deal.
As reported in Edition 53 of iDiski Times, Stellies have shown interest in Happy Mashiane as they look to bolster their options of the left-flank and it’s believed Chiefs are willing to part ways with the 24-year-old now, having initially suggested he was not for sale in their first enquiry in the off-season.
However, it remains to be seen whether Stellies revisit the interest in Mashiane or if one of the other players Amakhosi make available will tempt them to finally part ways with Du Preez, who earned his maiden Bafana Bafana call-up in Hugo Broos’ 37-man preliminary squad for the upcoming 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in June.
Story by: Lorenz Köhler
