Stan Matthews, SuperSport United CEO, has confirmed that the club would be taking a different direction, one which will alter their approach in the transfer market ahead of the new season.
The Matsatsantsa head was asked about if the club would be sold, or that there had been talk in the football fraternity about their Premier Soccer League franchise being up for grabs, he rebuffed the rumour.
“I think the days of us as a club going into the market and capturing marquee players like Dean Furman, Reneilwe Letsholonyane and those type of signings is not right now. We are going to adopt a different strategy, and that means trying our best to hold on to the talent that we have,” he said in an interview.
“We believe that inside the club there’s a handful of players who have exceptional talent and can go to the next level. We are going to build around them, meaning we are reinventing ourselves in a different way – from the bottom up, the base of young players as opposed to going out and trying to compete in a transfer market that is inflated considering what clubs are asking for.”
“What this means, really, is that only Kaizer Chiefs, Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates can buy players. But, even for them, that is not effective value propositions because as soon as they are interested in a player the price goes up, money that not even the bigger clubs can sustain. The market is not right for it, and we are facing up to that reality, not shying away from it. It’s a Covid reality,” Matthews added.
“This calls for us to be conservative, look after what we have in the club, the staff, the players and not concern ourselves with running into the market to try and compete with the Big Three. That’s not where we are at. We are in a cluster of clubs behind the Big Three. We will try and win silverware because we have shown we can do it without a bloated squad of the big-name players. In the past we have been tempted and gone for a big fish. Modiba was one, and we got a good return on that investment later on,” the club boss explained.
“We won’t put pressure on ourselves now in July to bring in big players, we can’t go pound-for-pound with a remerging Chiefs under Stuart Baxter, or an ever-hungry Pirates, who always mop up good talent. And Sundowns are always knocking on the door for a couple of players, they are knocking on my door for a couple of players right now. Maybe you can throw in AmaZulu, who might go aggressive and those are the four clubs in the lead, the rest of us have to be strategic.
“We won’t pull off transfer coups, and we are not apologetic about it.”
The budget cuts that have been reported will also affect how coach Kaitano Tembo sets up his team in the coming months, but Matthews did reveal there were ongoing talks with new partners to come in as sponsors.