SAZI HADEBE | Another transfer window, another series of unfathomable transactions

The intriguing Premier Soccer League shenanigans we’ve just witnessed in the latest transfer window tell us everything we need to know about the state of our professional football.  

At best, PSL player transfers are chaotic and lack direction. But that’s no coincidence because that’s how many of these PSL clubs are actually managed. There’s never a feeling that there’s a plan in place to do things that make sense. And the secrecy with which the league and its clubs run their business makes it impossible for anyone to understand the sort of decisions most clubs make when it comes to acquiring or releasing players at any given time.

I doubt that coaches at most PSL clubs agree with some of these signings, or whether club bosses even care to consult them when these critical decisions are made. All these aspects makes player transfers in SA as unpredictable as the results in most PSL matches. One top PSL coach once remarked that gambling on a PSL match result was akin to playing a lottery.

How do you explain what happened at Orlando Pirates this week where Bafana Bafana striker Zakhele Lepasa was loaned to SuperSport United, right in the middle of both clubs fighting to qualify for next season’s Caf Champions League? I wonder how Pirates’ owners will look at themselves in the mirror if Lepasa suddenly finds form under Gavin Hunt and goes on to deny them a place in the Champions League. I think the timing of Lepasa’s move is very wrong. You'd probably understand if the decision on Lepasa was taken at the beginning of the season when everyone was on an equal footing. Lepasa’s deal is a gamble that could come back to bite someone at Pirates.  

Another player movement that puzzles me is that of former AmaZulu skipper and defensive midfielder Makhehlene Makhaula, who at 33, joined Pirates this week at a time when AmaZulu are battling to finish in the top eight under their young French-Moroccan coach Romain Folz. You would have thought it made sense to keep Makhaula at AmaZulu until the end of the season. It’s not as though Pirates are in a crisis of some sort when it comes to players of Makhaula’s mould. In Miguel Timm, Thabang Monare, Goodman Mosele and Ben Motshwari, the Buccaneers have four players who are more than capable of playing in that central midfield position. It will not come as a surprise if Makhaula ends up watching many of the Pirates matches from the stands when he could have helped Usuthu attain their goal. 

I’m not sure if he was the one who gave the green light for Makhaula to join his team but I wonder how Pirates coach Jose Riveiro will find a place for him. But that’s how things happen in many PSL clubs, coaches are given plenty of players they don’t need, while deprived of those they do need. 

Interestingly in this January window, Mamelodi Sundowns, a club that many have been accusing of hogging players for the sake of it, have decided not to venture into the market this time around. It would have been insane for Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena to sign new players when the club needs to offload many of those who are surplus to requirements at Chloorkop. 

The other reason, of course, is that Sundowns have had no-one challenging them this season as they go into Saturday’s clash against Pirates looking to stroll to a record 15th straight victory in the Premiership. 

The signings Hunt has made at SuperSport make sense if you look at their results of late. Hunt’s team have lost two and drawn two of their last four league encounters. New strikers Lepasa and Senegalese born Mamour Niang should give regular SuperSport marksmen Bradley Grobler and Thamsanqa Gabuza plenty of competition as the Tshwane club push to finish in second position. 

Kaizer Chiefs, another club that’s in the mix of those trying to finish in the second spot, seem to have made a good signing in DR Congo striker Christian Saile. However, I feel they’re the ones who could have done with a player like Makhaula, even if it’s on a short-term deal, after they sold Njabulo Blom to US outfit ST Louis City SC. But that’s the sort of mishmash you find all over with PSL transfers.

It is for this reason that Sundowns, who are set to win a sixth successive league title in May, will continue to dominate SA football for the foreseeable future. It is the same reason nobody can predict who will finish behind Sundowns.  

Only when SA football clubs are run in a professional manner will one make sense of what they’re actually doing at any given transfer window. For now let’s just enjoy the extra spectacle these clubs give us, whenever it’s time to sign or release players.