The potential move of Nasreddine Nabi to Kaizer Chiefs is hanging in the balance with the Tunisian coach adamant about his demands for a potential move.
On Wednesday evening, Young Africans SC confirmed that they would part ways with the coach after two seasons, in which he led them to back-to-back domestic trebles and the CAF Confederation Cup runners-up spot.
It coincided with Chiefs’ interest in his services after several coaches held meetings with the club’s hierarchy, which included Al Hilal mentor Florent Ibenge around two weeks ago.
While Ibenge’s opening online interview never went further than that, presumably due to his status as one of the highest-paid coaches on the continent and an exorbitant buy-out clause with the Sudanese giants, Nabi caught the attention of Amakhosi.
His recent record of success at the Tanzanian giants and experience in CAF inter-club competitions with Hilal and Al-Merrikh was another attractive side of his CV as he entered the final weeks of his contract with Yanga.
Mutual Interest & Demands Set
With the club expressing interest, and Nabi keen on a new challenge, added to the lure of the DStv Premiership, both parties have played their cards close to their chest, with Chiefs having held informal talks with several candidates, while Nabi has received offers from the Gulf and North Africa during after his trophy-laden stint in East Africa.
He informed the club, he needed to have his own technical team, an assistant coach, a goalkeeper coach and a strength and conditioning coach, while a local assistant could be discussed in order to familiarise himself with the playing staff and the league.
That, along with his wage demands, would need to see the current technical team paid out in a brand new project, just one season into a three-year project that was set out under current head coach Arthur Zwane.
In retrospect, it’s an admission of failure from the club’s leadership if a drastic change of this nature is made, but the consideration of it also speaks to the lack of trust that it could bring back success in the 2023/24 season.
iDiski Times understands the Chiefs are willing to offer him two of the three positions within his technical team, while the idea of retaining Dillon Sheppard has also been bandied about, but the coach has been steadfast in his belief that he needs his entire technical team to hit the ground running.
“Nabi feels they are close to reaching an agreement, but there’s one or two things that need to be ironed out,” a source close to the coach confirmed to this webiste.
As things stand, the two parties are still deadlocked in negotiations and over the coming days, the picture will become more clear whether the Tunisian tactician will succeed Zwane at the Soweto giants.
The Tunisian coach is currently still in Tanzania, as negotiations with the Amakhosi leadership continue.
Story by Lorenz Kohler (@Lorenz_KO).
