Chiefs turn down Israeli offer for Duba
Kaizer Chiefs are understood to have rejected an offer from Maccabi Haifa for one of their emerging talents in the club’s youth structures.
According to sources at Naturena, the Israeli outfit made an approach through their plethora of South African networks to ask whether the Glamour Boys would be open to selling or even loaning out striker Wandile Duba.
There’s been talk in the football fraternity that the 18-year-old is the next big thing, having impressed while playing in the DStv Diski Challenge.
Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane would have been monitoring Duba given his close ties with the development side coached by Vela Khumalo, as the club’s first-team mentor himself cut his teeth in the Amakhosi youth ranks.
Although the information provided to Soccer Laduma suggests that Duba does not yet have a contract with the senior side, the Siya crew understands that the Chiefs hierarchy were reluctant to enter into formal negotiations with Maccabi Haifa.
It could be an opportunity missed for Amakhosi in quickly getting their emerging talents to Europe while they are still teenagers, but this won’t be the first time. The Siya crew reported in June that the Soweto giants turned down a bid from KVC Westerlo in Belgium for the services of striker Mduduzi Shabalala and reacted by handing him a three-year deal themselves in an effort to hold on to him longer.
Duba continues to play reserve league football, and it’s not yet clear at this stage whether Chiefs will promote him to fast-track his integration with the first team, but as things stand, the potential move to Israel is off.