Tshabalala still at Chiefs – for now

Kaizer Chiefs coach Giovanni Solinas has said he cannot confirm reports of veteran star Siphiwe Tshabalala’s move to a Turkish Super Lig club, Erzurumspor.

According to reports – which could not be independently verified – Tshabalala plans to sign with Erzurumspor soon.

But Solinas said the player had been part of his training sessions this week as Chiefs prepared for Sunday’s first leg of their MTN8 semifinal against SuperSport United at the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Pretoria. “I don’t speak about the transfer of players‚” Solinas said on Thursday.

“I speak about the players I have in the squad. Tshabalala was training with my team this morning‚ as normal.”

The origin of some reports of the Tshabalala deal appear untrustworthy.

Some reports in SA have quoted a website purporting to represent Erzurumspor saying that Tshabalala has agreed in principle to sign a deal with the club‚ and that he will travel to Turkey to do so in two days.

However, that report was in fact dated July 20.

More baffling is that there appear to be two websites purporting to represent BB Erzurumspor.

One‚ bberzurumspor.com‚ appears to be the official site as it is linked to Wikipedia. com

It makes no mention of the Tshabalala transfer.

The report of the deal appears on erzurumspor.net

No mention is made of a deal to sign Tshabalala on Erzurumspor’s official Twitter page.

Solinas said Tshabalala was a crucial player to his plans.

Tshabalala’s agent‚ Jazzman Mahlakgane‚ who has said in reports that he has no knowledge of the deal‚ could not be reached for comment.

Picture: ANESH DEBIKY/GALLO IMAGES ON THE MOVE: Siphiwe Tshabalala of Kaizer Chiefs and Sinethemba Jantjie of Free State Stars battle for the ball during a Nedbank Cup semifinal match at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban earlier this year. Tshabalala has been linked to a possible move to Turkey, but reports to this effect could not be verified