TS Galaxy forward Bernard Parker has revealed Mamelodi Sundowns considered him a future prospect at the club during his youth days but he rejected their five-year deal because he was "impatient" and wanted to provide for his family.
Parker, who is about to release his autobiography titled 'From a Shack to Destiny', has revealed that he was a star of Sundowns' reserve team before he signed his first professional contract with Benoni Premier United in 2004.
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The former Kaizer Chiefs utility player says he was recruited by Khabo Zondo at Sundowns' reserve team, who lived in his neighbourhood in Boksburg but breaking into the Brazilians' senior team was difficult, because mining billionaire Dr. Patrice Motsepe had just bought the club and brought in a lot of star players.
"He (Khabo Zondo) said come to the (Sundowns) reserve team. Mr Motsepe had just bought the club and he brought Peter Ndlovus, Bennedict Vilakazi, Gift Leremi, that Sundowns team was just star-studded, a galaxy of stars," Parker said in an interview on the Nkululeko n Cultr YouTube Channel.
"I just wanted money, I just wanted to look after my mom because of the suffering my mom was going through, I just wanted some incentive.
"(But) things did not work out, I could not stay long because I was so impatient. I felt at the time I was a star player at the reserve team. I felt I deserved to be called up for the first team," he said.
The 37-year old continued and disclosed that the Brazilians offered him a five-year deal to remain at the club but the proposal was not in a form of a standard contract and suggested that he left because Benoni Premier United offered him a chance to quickly progress his career.
"Sundowns said, 'No you must stay, we want you here for the next five years'. I said, 'Okay, let's have something on paper, I just want some incentive or whatever to look after my mom' and I felt I deserved it," he went on.
"There was no contract. They let me sign some piece of paper that stated I'll get R5000 for five years. That piece of paper was not some standard, normal PSL contract and I just left. So, things did not work out and I signed for Benoni Premier United," he added.
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