There is a notion that Kaizer Chiefs fail to sign most of their targeted players because they cannot pay the money teams ask for those players, but Amakhosi's Corporate and Marketing Manager Jessica Motaung has strongly dismissed this perception, stating that the club has a better budget compared to most teams in the PSL.
Answering a question from the media on whether money is the main issue concerning their lack of signing targets, Motaung labeled such suggestions as "absolute nonsense."
“Chiefs pay a lot of money, sir. So, I’m actually quite surprised so I think it is absolute nonsense. If I look at our budgets and I look and the investments we are making into players and the transfer space. I also think the South African market needs to evaluate itself. Are the negotiations fair? Are the prices people are asking for players fair? We have to look at our industry but we have certainly made sure and you can see from our investments in the last season. Not only in the players but in the technical team. You can see that Chiefs are putting money where its mouth is. It is a matter of making sure we evaluate and make sure our spend gives us the return that we need,” Motaung told journalists.
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Motaung was speaking to the media during the launch of the 2025 Toyota Cup where it was revealed Chiefs will play against Ghanaian giants Asante Kotoko on 26 July at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.
She further stated that as a team they acknowledge that at times they don't sign desired players because the market is competitive, but they are always working diligently behind the scenes.
“The market is competitive, so we have to be honest and say that the market is competitive. I know that the guys are working very hard behind the scenes to make that happen. Ninth and tenth place is not great for us and that is part of the difficult conversation that we had to have. We cannot find ourselves there again. So, definitely the vision has always been to ascend and take our rightful place in South African and African football. The vision is there, and the work is being done behind the scenes, and we will even make the hard decisions to make sure we get there."
Addressing the broader aspects of the club's approach to recruitment and performance, Motaung emphasized the collective nature of their operation.
"For me I would say at Chiefs we work as a team, and we must be honest about that, that sometimes things work out and at times they don’t. I think the guys on the technical side are working very hard and they have the support of the board and the chairman and all of us even at the marketing side. We must be fair in that the market has changed and the climate has changed, and every team goes through cycles and changes. There was a time when certain teams were not at the top and experiencing challenges and we are fortunate in that we have had years and years of absolute success. It is just now that we have had a period of challenges, and it is great that we have won the Nedbank Cup. We need to be careful in saying we didn’t have good players when those players won us the Nedbank Cup."
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She concluded by highlighting the importance of finding players who fit the club's culture and playing style.
"We need to be grateful for the work that has been done but certainly we are continuing to look at getting the right players. Sometimes it is coaching style and sometimes there isn’t a fit with players or it’s a cultural issue so we have to be fair when things don’t work out. But certainly, on our side we are making sure that we are looking at players that we think will fit, players that can play a certain style, and blend into what the Chiefs culture is about. One thing we can proud of is our academy,” Motaung further observed.
Amakhosi will be in the Netherlands for their pre-season training camp from July 4th to 19th, and when they return, they will play Kotoko in the 2025 Toyota Cup.
