SuperSport United head coach Gavin Hunt has revealed his approach to dealing with players who have signed pre-contracts with other clubs. Hunt has continued to play defender Thatayaone Ditlhokwe, who has already agreed to join Kaizer Chiefs on a long-term contract.
Hunt believes that teams can suffer if they let go of players prematurely for signing a pre-contract elsewhere, and he does not want to make the same mistake with Ditlhokwe. “I can give you so many examples when teams got rid of players which has cost them and I’ve had players where we’ve won the league where players have signed for other clubs. But other than that he’s (Ditlhokwe) been fantastic for us, it’s a big loss for us going forward but right now he’s got nine games. I’ve always said to him, ‘Treat the game with respect and it will pay you back’ and it has. If he drops off he won’t play,” said Hunt.
Hunt alluded to the George Maluleka situation at Kaizer Chiefs as an example of why it is not a good idea to outcast players who have signed pre-contracts with other clubs. Chiefs had a transfer ban and ended up missing out on a key player in the league title race, which they eventually lost to Mamelodi Sundowns. Hunt assured that he will play Ditlhokwe against Chiefs in their reverse fixture in May.
“I think so, I’ll definitely play him (against Chiefs), as I said there’s so many examples of teams letting and a team you just spoke about (Chiefs) let a player go in the middle of the season, he took all the free-kicks, so there’s examples of those types of things. So I think you need to keep players. And players need to honour the game, six months is a long time, it’s not six weeks. Even if a player signs a deal somewhere else, I’ll still let the player train with us,” said Hunt.
