Lerumo Keep Zungu & Explain Radebe’s Exit

Nkanyiso Zungu will stay with Lerumo Lions in the Motsepe Foundation Championship. Image: Gallo Images

Lerumo Lions coach Tshepo Maphari has confirmed that they are retaining the services of midfielder Nkanyiso Zungu, while giving insight into their decision to let go of Sabelo Radebe.

Both Zungu and Radebe were signed in the second part of last season by Lerumo in the Motsepe Foundation Championship, but only one of them is staying with the club. According to Maphari, Lerumo have exercised the one-year option in Zungu’s contract, keeping him at the club until June 2027. He had signed a short-term deal until the end of last season and there was an option, which they have exercised, as Maphari confirmed.

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“Yes, he is still a player of ours. He had signed for six months with an option,” Maphari said to Soccer Laduma.

“He’s just having a slow start to pre-season because if you remember, he ended the season with a niggling knee injury. He didn’t play the last five games of the season, so he has been getting medical attention. He has not started full training and we have consulted specialists and we are getting a full update to get him ready for the season.

Radebe’s contract, meanwhile, was not extended by the club and is now a free agent. Maphari explained that they were looking to get more from the former Kaizer Chiefs midfielder.

“With Sabelo, unfortunately we had to let him go because with us having given him enough time to adapt, but when we looked at the numbers, we didn’t get the return we wanted, especially comparing with the other number 10s that we had,” Maphari said.

“For us, a number 10 has to be somebody who is going to chip in with five, six or seven goals. He didn’t have a single one and, of course, those high profile players come with a high salary wage. When you are carrying that as a young team like ours, you need to be getting a return. We parted ways amicably. There was no bad blood. We wished him well, but yeah, he is not part of our team going forward.”

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Lerumo started pre-season on July 1 and want to ensure they are fully prepared for the upcoming campaign to improve on last term’s eighth-place finish.

“It was intentional to have more than six weeks (of pre-season). I think our pre-season will be seven weeks. Remember, last season we didn’t have time (after buying the status of Pretoria Callies). So, we’ve released half of the team basically, so we need more time to recruit and get the players to gel. So, the team is looking good,” Maphari said. 

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