Kaizer Chiefs midfielder has completed a move to join GladAfrica Championship team Pretoria Callies on a five year deal after receiving clearance from the Soweto giants.
The Youngster D’Angelo Taai was not recalled to the team before the restart of the DStv Diski Challenge after spending two seasons at the club trying to break into the first team.
D’Angelos’ representative Warren Swartz revealed displeasure in the way and manner the club handled his client. As per Warren, the player had no interest in leaving but was ultimately forced to make the decision to leave.
He said: “D’Angelo has joined Pretoria Callies. He was at Chiefs for two seasons, playing as a central midfielder. He was in the MDC and he was in the plans, but at the time Ngcobo and Blom were constantly pushed back to the MDC team to get game time. If a first team player gets pushed down to the MDC team for game time, the first team players get first preference,”
“Now, when they said the players should come back, they did not call him back for some reason. They did not communicate with us and we tried to find out from Arthur Zwane what’s happening and Arthur Zwane. We asked for his clearance and he has now joined Pretoria Callies. He was there on trial for two days and they signed him. They saw the value and signed the boy on a five-year deal.”
It continues a trend of players leaving Kaizer Chiefs before they get the opportunity to show their worth with the first team. The likes of Siyanda Xulu and Tristan Moses also followed this path and now Taai becomes the latest to do so.
On the transfer front, Amakhosi are expected to oversee a busy transfer window, with a number of senior players expected to depart the club this summer.
With Chiefs looking to compete with the likes of Sundowns and Orlando Pirates domestically, one can imagine they’ll be all out for quality players in the transfer window as well.
So far this season, it has been a disappointing season for Amakhosi by their standards. They currently lie in ninth place in the PSL with 20 points, a whopping 26 points behind leaders Mamelodi Sundowns.
However, they have done fairly decent in the CAF Champions League and await their quarter-final opponent, which brings the possibility of an all-South African clash against Pirates.