Cape Town Spurs striker Ashley Cupido is enjoying a dream season that’s promising much more and with interest rising from the big three, he’s still hoping to land a move to Europe.
The 21-year-old is currently leading the scoring charts in the Motsepe Foundation Championship with 13 goals in 18 starts and is a favourite to lead the South African U23 front-line when they face Congo Brazzaville later this month for the U23 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Alongside Rushwin Dortley, Chumani Butsaka, Liam Bern and Lincoln Vyver, Spurs are likely to field several off-season offers for their key players, whether or not they earn promotion to the top-flight, and Cupido is already attracting interest from Gauteng.
But talks of an off-season move is premature at this stage, with iDiski Times having it on good authority that Spurs and Cupido are holding out for a move to Europe – for career progression and with the club seeking to be compensated for their investment in the towering striker.
This publication reached out to the players’ representatives from Siyavuma Sports Group to get some further clarity on his situation.
“Extremely good from Ashley thus far, but also from the CTS team in general, they are in a great position and it’s a club that the whole country would want to see back in the PSL, for sure,” Paul Mitchell from SSG stated to this website.
“Ashley has great qualities, he’s a real handful with a desire and work rate, that you don’t often see, an ability to score goals, physically good, and a great professional. He is learning daily from his coach [Shaun Bartlett] and technical team who have a wealth of experience between them.”
With the agency holding an extensive network in Europe due to its partnership with world-renowned CAA Base – a goalscoring talent like Cupido will not be short of suitors, but Mitchell was keen to play down the expectations, with the 2022/23 season far from over.
“There will always be interest in a player of Ashley’s quality, a goal scorer, his concentration now is only Spurs, promotion [to the DStv Premiership] and the U23’s,” he added.
“We will sit down at the end of the season, but our goal is to take Ashley overseas if possible and there is some interest, but for now as I say Spurs and promotion take first preference.”
Cupido has racked up 72 league appearances for Spurs over the last three seasons and is widely tipped to become a full senior international over the next few years, if not months. He has already technically been capped, as he featured in CHAN qualifiers last year.
