SuperSport United CEO Stan Matthews admits it’s likely that Ronwen Williams will leave the club amid links with a move to Mamelodi Sundowns.
The club captain signalled his desire for a new challenge at the end of last season with Orlando Pirates and Sundowns both known admirers of his talents.
However, iDiski Times has it on good authority that Williams, who stated his reason for wanting to leave is to challenge for the league and CAF Champions League, favours the move to Masadawana.
This publication understands a deal has been agreed in personal for the Bafana Bafana number one to join their Tshwane rivals, with Matsatsantsa already preparting a ‘special farewell’ for the poster boy of the institution.
However, while Matthews stated he’s exit seems likely, he cast doubt that it’s set in stone with the return of Gavin Hunt as head coach on Thursday morning, might change a few plans moving forward into the 2022/23 season
“We’ve had a good chat with Ronwen, we know where he stands, we know what he wants for his career and we’re going to try and accommodate that,” Matthews said, in response to iDiski Times question at their media briefing at SuperSport studios.
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“It’s never a just a straightforward situation, there are negotiations, there are discussions, now that I’ve got a coach maybe there’s players [he wants] there’s nothing that’s been advanced to any level that I can concretise right now.
“But certainly once I’ve sat down with Gavin over the weekend – look at different permutations about how I can freshen up the team, what kind of replacements we can get in which positions and what that’s going to take – then I will have a clearer picture of how viable the sale of Ronwen will be.
“It’s likely that he’s going to move but as I say, it’s something I have to sit down and discuss with Gavin if I can’t get the right kind of replacement… Gavin is very strong on the spine of the team and that starts with the keeper.”
“Ronwen is the national team goalkeeper, he’s our captain, our poster child, he’s our longest-serving player, probably one of the longest-serving players in the history of South African football, so it’s not a normal trading of a player, this is a son of the club and someone that’s going to be impossible to replace in the short-term.”
Matthews went on to state that Hunt will do a thorough assessment of the current squad, which he believes is a solid base to build on for the four-time league winner, with ‘four or five signings’ in order to challenge for silverware and potentially qualify the club for CAF inter-club competitions next season.
“For us, we have to look at that, once I’ve got a sense of what the coach wants and which area of the team he wants to spend money and what options are out there for me in terms of a potential Ronwen replacement that can move forward for the club and can be part of our future for the next four or five years, that’s what we have to factor in,” he continued.
“Then I’ll take my mandate from the board and go to them with requests of what Gavin wants, the suggestions of who can go where that makes sense for us, we’ll submit that to the board over the course of next week and let’s see what happens.
“We obviously don’t want signings to drag, we’d like to wrap them all up by the end of next week, ins and out. Now that we know we have a coach, who the coach is and what the rest of pre-season looks like, by the end of next week we’ll call another press conference to announce some new signings and we’ll see where we go with Ronny.”
SuperSport finished trophyless last season and crept into the top-eight in the final day of the campaign – which sets them up with an MTN8 tie against champions Mamelodi Sundowns.
