Kaizer Chiefs announced on Friday the club had cut one of the fan favourites loose, and now his agent has explained why the contract was terminated.

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Siphelele Ntshangase, who joined Amakhosi in January 2018 from Baroka in a big-money move, was released three months before the end of the season, becoming the first player to exit Naturena ahead of what’s expected to be a massive clear-out.

The decision was not explained by the club, with the brief statement provided only revealing that it was taken after lengthy discussions with the player.  

“I think it was a good gesture by Chiefs, this is a player they spent good money on to bring him over, but unfortunately it did not work out,” said Jazzman Mahlakgane, the player’s long time representative.

“It happens in football that a player arrives at a club in his peak or on top of his game and then drops. Stash is also unfortunate in the sense that all the coaches at Chiefs never really used him – from Steve Komphela, Ernst Middendorp and now Gavin Hunt.”

Ntshangase was gradually introduced into the team by Komphela in his first six months at the club and appeared quite an important player under Giovanni Solinas, who was sacked by Chiefs mid-season and replaced by Middendorp.

Middendorp was highly critical of Ntshangase during his one-and-a-half season tenure at Amakhosi, while he only managed two league starts under Hunt.

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“This decision was inevitable, and that discussion happened between me and the player before to say ‘listen, we have a choice, either we wait for the end of the contract, which we were probably going to have to look for another club anyway, or we can ask for an amicable separation so that you can start looking now’. When Chiefs approached us about a separation, we then agreed to go ahead,” Mahlakgane added.

There have been suggestions that Amakhosi released the player due to ill-discipline, but his agent said a lack of game-time was the determining factor.

“Chiefs were not able to sign players at the beginning of the season and that was part of the reason why they exercised the option on Stash, especially because of their CAF commitments. It was noble and it was an opportunity for him. But things didn’t change, so we hope a new environment will help him do well,” he said.

Scroll through the list of other Chiefs players still in limbo...