Head Coach Ernst Middendorp opened up about one of the reasons George Maluleka is not completing the season with Kaizer Chiefs.
The 31-year-old midfielder signed a pre-contract with Mamelodi Sundowns back in March and officially made the move to the Brazilians after his contract with Amakhosi came to an end on June 30.
Chiefs opted against offering the player an extension to complete the season, despite the fact that he had been one of the most influential players in their title-run.
However, according to Middendorp, the situation was delicate.
The German mentor indicated that if Maluleka signed for another club other than Sundowns - who are one of Chiefs' biggest rivals and are challenging for the title, then things could have been different.
"I think we discussed it inside the club, the player himself was involved and the management, and coming to the conclusion, it is a delicate situation. If the new club would have been a SuperSport or another team who aren't competing with Kaizer Chiefs to be champions at the end of the season, I would say it would have been a different story," Middendorp told the media.
"But here knowing that the new club is Mamelodi Sundowns it was very clear we have to make a decision and I think this decision is on one side painful because he was absolutely one of our core players going at the beginning of the season, building a team with a set-up."
"But good, we have options inside and we worked on some options and I am quite confident that we will get it right pairing up with Willard Katsande in the midfield as the first choice and let's see. We haven't decided, there are options inside the squad and we will make the decision on Wednesday."
