Kaizer Chiefs have confirmed the departures of players who were training with the club following the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to dismiss their appeal on the Fifa ban.
Sifiso Hlanti, Phathutshedzo Nange and goalkeeper Brandon Petersen, who were all given their clearances following the sale of Bidvest Wits to TTM, have been training at Naturena and were even reportedly offered contracts by Chiefs.
While the Fifa ban prohibits Chiefs from registering new players until 1 July 2021, they can still offer them employment but are unable to register the players in their squad for the 2020-21 season.
Chiefs coach Hunt Gavin Hunt confirmed to the media last week that the players who were training at the club were set to ‘go out on loan’.
For this to happen, the club would have to broker a deal with interested clubs allowing for the players to return to Chiefs next season. But, of course, they can’t make this public.
The club, though, confirmed on Monday evening in a vague statement on their Twitter account that ‘players who have been training with the team will leave to join team of their choice’, but did not mention them by name.
Club Update:
Due to the CAS outcome we can only sign players from July 2021.
As a result, the players that were training with the team will be leaving to join teams of their choice.#Amakhosi4Life pic.twitter.com/nsZmChZQGL
— Kaizer Chiefs (@KaizerChiefs) November 2, 2020
The club had only confirmed that Bafana Bafana left back Hlanti was training with them, but all three players are free agents and have been linked with moves to Swallows FC and Stellenbosch FC, but they are able to join those clubs even after the transfer window slams shut at the end of the month.