SuperSport United had promising discussions behind closed doors to engage Kaizer Chiefs on a potential transfer of one of their players.
SuperSport head coach Gavin Hunt is a big admirer of Chiefs midfielder Phathutshedzo Nange and the Siya crew understands that he had been urging the board to bid for his services, even before Matsatsantsa signed Siphesihle Ndlovu after his exit at Orlando Pirates.
Nange, who has fallen out of favour at Amakhosi since Arthur Zwane took over as head coach this season, will enter the final six months of his contract at the club in the turn of the new year.
As reported in edition 1303 of Soccer Laduma, available at your nearest outlet, Hunt had been pushing for the signing of Nange, preferably to get the deal over the line in January.
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However, the Siya crew has been informed by well placed sources in the SuperSport corridors, that the powers that be at the club have pulled the plug on the discussions around signing the 30-year old in the next transfer window, because that would require a transfer fee.
The top brass at Matsatsantsa, Soccer Laduma understands, have vetoed the suggestions of signing Nange completely, that they have decided not to even engage in negotiations at a cut-price. The Siya crew has been led to believe that, the feeling around the board is that they would rather wait for Nange's contract to run down in June and sign him on a free transfer, if Chiefs don't tie him down to a new contract.
The former Bidvest Wits midfielder has made only two official appearances under Zwane this season, twice coming off the bench in the league and in the MTN8.
It begs the question, why Hunt would be desperate to have Nange, while he is not preferred by Zwane at Amakhosi. Well, the Glamour Boys under Zwane have a different game model compared to the previous seasons and for the first time in a long time, look to play out from the back and build combinations.
Nange is seemingly not the type of player to rotate the ball as efficiently as Yusuf Maart for example and not the type to sit as a destroyer and progress play, the same way Njabulo Blom is doing.
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However, the 30-year old fits the profile of a type of midfielder Hunt likes, who is full of running and can close down spaces from the top and go back to fight again.
"Midfield players, modern midfield players got to go box to box and they got to close the space down both ways," Hunt described a perfect midfielder in his system on Diski Talk With Luyolo Podcast.
"When the ball goes forward, they got to close, when the ball goes over their head, they got to close again.
"So you need legs…" he added.
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