Former Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper Brian Baloyi has opened up about his departure from Naturena, where Sundowns offered him a blank cheque to fill in figures he wanted.
Baloyi arrived at Chiefs as a teenager in 1991 and made his first team debut in 1993 before going on to spend over a decade at Naturena and then leaving in 2004. The move was deemed by some Chiefs fans as being motivated by money.
Speaking on Podcast And Chill with McGuyver Mukwevho, ‘Spiderman’ revealed that Sundowns came knocking after interests from overseas clubs such as Liverpool and Copenhagen were turned down by Amakhosi.
The former Bafana Bafana number one says he felt disrespected by the club when he and his representatives negotiated for a renewal of his contract, adding that even though Sundowns offered him a blank cheque he did try to stay for less than what they were offering at Chiefs.
“What hurt me was ‘take it or leave it,” Baloyi said on the podcast.
“When I got home, I’m like are these guys serious. They are saying to me take it or leave it. So, I talk to my agent and said I want to get it direct from the chairman. So, when I have it from the chairman that take it or leave then I’ll decide what I want to do next because I’m in shock that they are saying take it or leave it.
“Then I get the meeting with the chairman. We sat down and he says we don’t have a budget from the board, what we are offering you that’s it. But it comes out as if he is saying take it or leave it. He says it’s not in a bad way of take it or leave it but yes, it’s take or leave it. I said okay chairman let me go think, let me go talk to my family and come back to you.
“I go and talk to my agent and that time my agent has been talking to me saying Sundowns want you and I said to him no. At the time I hadn’t even thought about it. So, I sat down with my family, sat down with my agent and I said for me it’s about respect. The take it or leave it for me is disrespectful. Then I said to him [agent] let’s talk to other people. Sundowns come and Sundowns say to me we know what you earn but here’s a chequebook just write what you want. At first, I’m thinking this guy is s***ting me. Jose Ferreira he was the General Manager he had come from Wits. He’s an attorney, he used to be a lawyer for the PSL, so he knows every PSL player’s contract. He says to me I know your contract and I know what you’ve been asking for, we can double it or just write then I’ll speak to the President, and he’ll tell me yes or no.
“I said to Glyn [Binkin] are they serious? Then we give them a number and they say we can sign now but I say no let me go and we’ll come back to you. Let’s say for example I was earning R10 000 then the club says to me on your new contract we’ll only give you an increase of R4000. I say to them all these years you have been saying this and that the reason we have to jump now is because all these years you have been giving promises. I want R20 000 instead of R14 000, but I can back it up.
“They are saying you can’t have 100% increase and I’m saying I’m giving them a number where there are players earning that in the club and I’m a senior player and I’m a captain. Rightfully I have to be part of the top earners, and they refused. Now Sundowns says you are earning R10k, we’ll give you R30k. So, I start using Sundowns as a bargaining tool. I go back there [at Chiefs] and finally I accept, and I say to my agent you know what I love the club, they want to give me R14k tell them if they give me R16k I’ll sign today. He goes, they say no, the offer they gave you guys is take it or leave it and that’s when I said it’s easy to make a decision.”
