Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter has explained why academy graduate Given Thibedi was released in a permanent deal to Swallows FC.
The 23-year-old was released by the club on Thursday despite initially being recalled from his loan at Wwallows.
Baxter, though, confirmed that, although he likes the midfielder, he doesn’t feel that Thibedi would get enough game-time for his stage of development at Naturena and the club don’t want to hold him back.
“We look at our entire squad and we did an inventory of all the players and I said ‘guys we’ve got to say, when we’ve got a player, you sometimes loan the player out. And that player that’s loaned out, you’ve got no real plan for him. You just moves and gets some experience but you’ve got no plan for him,” the coach told Thabiso Mosia on SAFMSportOn.
“Now, Given is different. With Given we see his potential but we’ve signed a lot of players and we don’t think that he’s going to get the time that he needs. So we have a plan for him and that plan is not to farm him out somewhere to waste his time.
“I like Given as a player, (but) I don’t think he’s going to get enough playing time with us. When you do deals, these deals all have clauses and this and that. We think that this is something that suits Given as well.”
Chiefs’ Football Manager Bobby Motaung had already clarified the club’s position in a statement on the official website.
“Thibedi is a good player and we are proud to say he is a product of our Youth Development Academy,” Motaung said.
“We sat with the technical team and assessed the squad we have assembled this season, which include nine new recruits.
“After evaluation, we reached the decision to put him on the market and Swallows showed interest, as he has done well for them in the past.”
Thibedi made 20 appearances for Swallows in the DStv Premiership last season.
