Kaizer Chiefs set to lose yet another Key player

Kaizer Chiefs’ newly appointed coach Arthur Zwane is expected to gain the services of Ashley Du Preez but lose one of their key player to Stellenbosch FC next season.

Zwane recently confirmed that a deal for Du Preez is a work in progress after SABC Sport reported earlier this week that Chiefs and Stellenbosch had reached an agreement in principle on the move.

After scoring only two goals last season in the DSTV Premiership as Stellies fought hard to escape relegation, Du Preez has finished the current campaign as his side’s leading goal scorer, with nine strikes and three assists across 28 appearances.

Depending on how Orlando Pirates’ remaining games-in-hand pan out, there is also a big possibility that the 24-year-old may have just helped the Western Cape side qualify for their maiden CAF Confederation Cup campaign.

Initially, it was thought that the deal for Du Preez to Chiefs was a straight cash purchase after the Soweto giants were thought to have activated the player’s buyout clause, which is understood to be an eight-figure amount.

However, SABC Sport has learnt that Chiefs have sweetened the deal with Happy Mashiane headed in the opposite direction in a cash-plus-player exchange.

This is also a move that is expected to give Mashiane assurance of game-time, something he has not enjoyed at Amakhosi this past season under Stuart Baxter, despite a promising spell during Ernst Middendorp and Gavin Hunt’s eras.

Given the talent of the Tembisa-born left-sided attacker, it is also thought that Chiefs may have inserted a first-option buy-back clause for ‘Vavo’, who is a youth academy product from Naturena, in the deal.