Royal AM president Shauwn Mkhize has explained the club opted against extending Ricardo Nascimento’s contract because they want to finish on young players.
Nascimento, 36, joined Royal AM in February 2022 after he had parted ways with Mamelodi Sundowns in January that year.
He has since made 31 appearances for the club, scoring three goals and setting up two more. However, out of the last 11 league games, Nascimento only featured in two and they are rumours that he clashed with the club’s leadership over financial issues.
He is one of several players, who were already released by the club, as reported by iDiski Times earlier this week, with MaMkhize stating as many as six players have already parted ways with Thwihli Thwahla.
“We didn’t exercise our option,” she told Robert Marawa on MSW on Wednesday.
“The contract was finished. We had a contract that was going to finish off by the end of the year [season] and we had an option but we decided not to exercise that option.”
When asked whether it was a performance-based decision, Mkhize explained that chairman Andile Mpisane, her son, wants to freshen up the squad and bring in younger players.
“He is a good player, he came from Sundowns, I’m sure he’s still a good player,” she added.
“Royal AM wants to keep younger players. I think when Andile came in he made it very clear, he wants to have younger players, he wants to give players an opportunity to showcase their talent.
“I think Nascimento is a bit older now, so he doesn’t fit the caliber of the players that Andile would like to bring in, the young players.
“I think he is [still] a good player, but we want to bring in the young ones.”
Source Link Mam’Mkhize Explains Nascimento Exit – iDiski Times
