‘About who? I don’t know him, this player,’ said Ben Youssef, in response to a question about the 22 year-old.
Kaizer Chiefs have already unveiled young attacking midfielder Asanele Velebayi as their new signing on a long-term contract.
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The player, however has not started training with the Chiefs first team, Amakhosi media officer Vina Maphosa confirmed on Monday.
Chiefs’ Ben Youssef – ‘I don’t know him, this player’
This was after Kaizer Chiefs assistant coach Khalil Ben Youssef did not appear to be sure who Velebayi was at a Chiefs media briefing in Naturena.
“About who? I don’t know him, this player,” said Ben Youssef, in response to a question about the 22 year-old.
This prompted Maphose to intervene.
“Asanele has joined us on a long-term contract and he will start training very soon. The coaches are not involved on that side (of the business). Give the coach a chance to see the player first,” said Maphosa.
Velebayi not taking part in first team training almost certainly stems from the fact that Cape Town Spurs are still trying to prove the player is legally contracted to them.
A Premier Soccer League Disciplinary Committee has declared Velebayi a free agent, after Spurs were relegated from the Motsepe Foundation Championship at the end of last season.
This means Spurs now have amateur status and in theory, their players are free to join a club of their choice. Chiefs have gone ahead and announced Velebayi as their new signing.
Spurs, however, have taken the matter to South African Football Association Arbitration on appeal. It is possible that Chiefs are not prepare to court further trouble, if SAFA Arbitration finds in Spurs’ favour.
It is a strange set of circumstances, with Chiefs also hoping to sign another player that was on Spurs’ books, Luke Baartman.
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‘A legal and logical catastrophe’
“The ruling is a legal and logical catastrophe, one built on contradictory reasoning and a wilful ignorance of contractual law,” Spurs said in a statement after the PSL DC’s decision.
“More alarmingly, it has fired a fatal shot into the heart of football development, threatening to make long-term investment in young talent an unsustainable, and ultimately pointless, endeavour.”