Kaizer Chiefs are destroying players!

In this group (Pure Football Experts........) we've had our healthy disagreements as to who kills players ko Premier Soccer League, Mamelodi Sundowns will forever carry that stigma and Orlando Pirates closing that gap. The common thing about Pirates and Sundowns is, they do their duplications of signings and let the players fight for their positions "fair and square"! We have even gone as terming this talent suffocation a "football phenomenon".

We can’t help but notice ukuthi Kaizer Chiefs now have a new trend, beside already in use: "one per season". The new one is, if you are 30 in their team you are as good as gone and should you be kept till maybe 34 then your God is good. We've seen Thabo Mooki, Arthur Zwane, Gerald Sibeko, Fabian McCarthy, Cyril Nzama, Patrick Mayo, John "Shoes" Moshoeu and now recently Tinashe Nengomasha - all being dropped like hot potatoes or forced to early retirement.

Mind you these players were a force in their back to back league success in 2004/05 and 2005/06. Nengomasha was offered a lousy 2-year-deal extension at 30 plus a one year "in the office" contract, this means his playing days must be over at Naturena at 32. Bare in mind we are not talking about any South African typical lazy player here, this is a Rhodesia and by nature these people has an excellent work ethic plus he is rarely injured and all his 13 years at Chiefs, he has never cheated Chiefs.

In the team's defense Bobby Motaung (football manager) tells "us", we must remember he (Nengomasha) is not a youngster, my question is how old is Reneilwe 'Yeye' Letsholonyane, Siyabonga Nkosi and Morgan Gould?

We all know there are no guarantees ukuthi Yeye will finish this season without spending time ko physio (physiotherapy) room and Nkosi is not as tough as they come because to give the Kaizer Chiefs midfield a nod, you need to look at what Pirates and Sundowns have as they are their direct competitors.

In conclusion, this whole Nengomasha saga was not looked at in totality. Yes he is 30 (a young man when compared to Paul Scholes), he could still cover more ground even at 33 with rate he is going. He lives a clean life and that should give him even a longer staying power in the game and he is fashionably available for team selection.

In Italy I'm told they even take players in their 30s to some scan where it tells more or less how long could a player still play hence you see most of the over 30s playing in Italy. In South Africa we desperately need that scan, poor Siyabonga ‘Bhele’ Nomvete and Benni McCarthy, their good work the past season has gone unnoticed in some villages of the country.

By Xilla Tutu