Njabulo Blom’s agent Rob Moore has opened up on the issues in the negotiations with Kaizer Chiefs, before the midfielder’s move to St. Louis City was confirmed.
Moore had previously explained that negotiations with the club over Blom’s in June 2023 expiring contract had stalled.
When many believed the 23-year-old would be leaving the club on a free deal, Chiefs announced his transfer to Major League Soccer side St. Louis City, who are coached by Bradley Carnell.
The player’s agent now explained how the talks with the club went down.
“When we met with Chiefs back in July, we went into the meeting with Kaizer Jr., Bobby [Motaung] and coach Ntseki,” he told Andile Ncube on Sports Night Amplified.
“We spoke about Njabulo, he had about a year left on his contract at that stage, and they were quite upfront about it [saying] ‘we really want him to fly our flag internationally. If you can do that, we’re right behind it’.
“So I said ‘ok, it’s maybe possible. You can never guarantee anything in life, yes I’ll look at it but we need to prepare for different scenarios. We need to prepare for what if I come to you after six months and say I can’t find him a move overseas. Then you’re sitting with a guy with only six months left of contract’.
“So I said ‘let me give you a proposal that accommodates both scenarios, in other words the player will make some sacrifices this current season in terms of salary but the return is that then his exit – if he gets a move overseas – is smooth. But if we cannot succeed with finding him a transfer abroad, that when the additional year kicks his salary is on a level that it should be at based on his talent, but then the favourable exit is taken out of the contract as well’.
“There was give and take. Where the difference of opinion came in was on the extra years, on the additional time [and pay rise] – what I perceived to be market-related and what they were offering was two different things.
“That was at that point in time the issue on the economic differences that we had August/September time.”
However, Moore also explained that everything did end up on a “positive” note after the MLS side came into picture.
“But Njabulo was always clear to me that he wanted to play abroad and Chiefs were always clear that they wanted to try and accommodate him if an opportunity came abroad,” he added.
“And as it happened in November, we were able to finally get something over the line and I was able to put the two clubs together, they came to an agreement they were both happy with and it happened quite quickly in November/December, so it ended in a positive way.”
The new Major League Soccer season only kicks off on 25 February, with St. Louis starting with a trip to Austin.
