George Lebese opens up on what lured him to Mamelodi Sundowns despite Kaizer Chiefs offering double the money, lashes out at his former agent

George Lebese left Kaizer Chiefs in 2017 after spending nine seasons at Naturena to join Mamelodi Sundowns.

The 35-year-old details why he dumped Amakhosi for less money at Masandawana, who had won the Caf Champions League the previous year.

"Sundowns salary was not crazy, Chiefs was crazier. There were a lot of influences at that time, it was during coach Steve [Komphela]'s time; and I was not playing much and I was at the peak of my career, where I should be playing, but for some reason I was not playing," Lebese said as per Soccer Laduma. 

"Why did I leave? I was up for renewal and Bobby [Motaung] called me, the numbers (offer) exceeded what I wanted to ask. My agent was paid [by Sundowns], 'Get us this guy'. How he [agent] went about it is he didn't have [my] best interests [at heart].

"I looked at the other side and I'm like, 'Hey, I can win trophies with these players', they had just won the African tournament [Caf Champions League], I wanted to be part of that special group," added the former Bafana Bafana star.

"They [Sundowns] gave me an offer, it was less than what Chiefs offered, probably half. It was an improvement to what I was earning but it did not match what Chiefs were offering for me to extend. I thought I'd play but my agent was supposed to be realistic with me."

After leaving Chiefs, Lebese just spent a season at Masandawana and struggled for game time.

He was then loaned out to SuperSport United where he, again, was not a regular player.

That was followed by a stint in the United States second titer with Colorado Springs who are the last professional club he played for in 2020.

Lebese is now retired and has been involved in his own clothing label away from football.

Having been part of the Chiefs squad that won the Premier Soccer League title in 2015, it remains to be seen if Lebese will return to football in another capacity.