New Richards Bay striker Thabiso Kutumela has opened up on his departure from Mamelodi Sundowns and is of the notion it worked well in his favour after spending last season on loan at Cape Town City.
Kutumela, 31, initially joined the Brazilians in July 2021 after rattling the back of the net on a regular basis for Maritzburg United (now Durban City FC) but struggled for game time which saw the club ship him out on loan to the Mother City where he scored three goals with an assist in 28 appearances in all competitions.
The Mokopane-born attacker admitted that it was entirely his decision to seek a move away from Sundowns in order to garner more playing minutes under his belt.
“No, we did not negotiate,” Kutumela said, in his chat with iDiski Times senior writer Velile Mnyandu in edition 168 of the newspaper.
“I asked them for a loan [last season] when I saw I was having my last year before the two options. So, I asked for a loan to get myself where I am now.
“Richards Bay saw I could be of help to them because I was playing. If I had spent two years not playing, it would have been difficult for me to have a team like Richards Bay.
The former Baroka FC hitman kindly declined a straight-up two-year contract because he believes there’s still much more work he’d like to put in to deserve a longer contract.
“They wanted to give me a clear two-year contract, but I said one and one option because I want to work hard. If I work hard, maybe they will provide me with more years because, when you look at my age, I can’t play for one and one option. Time is not stopping, and my age is growing.”
