'Not over yet! Cape Town Spurs react to PSL DRC's Asanele Velebayi ruling by slamming agents, AmaZulu and Kaizer Chiefs as Mother City side highlight R8 million cost for player development - 'We'll ascertain after consulting with the legal team'

Kaizer Chiefs have been yearning for the services of Cape Town Spurs attacker Asanele Velebayi for two seasons now.

Last season, they opted not to pay a reported R10 million for the South Africa international since they felt it was too high.

When the team was relegated to South Africa's third-tier, all players, per the SAFA rules, were out of contract and free to join teams of their choice.  

However, Spurs insisted Velebayi, just like the other players, was still contracted to the Urban Warriors. 

Velebayi took his case to the Premier Soccer League's Dispute Resolution Chamber, which ruled in the player's favour.

That meant Kaizer Chiefs could get their man without paying a penny since the 22-year-old became a free agent after Spurs' relegation to the amateur league. 

However, in a statement, Spurs are not satisfied with the ruling.

"In a decision that has sent shockwaves through the South African football community, a National Soccer League (NSL) Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) has declared Cape Town Spurs player Asanele Velebayi a free agent following the club’s relegation," read a statement from the club.

"While on the surface it appears to be a victory for player freedom, the ruling is a legal and logical catastrophe—one built on contradictory reasoning and a wilful ignorance of contractual law. More alarmingly, it has fired a fatal shot into the heart of football development, threatening to make long-term investment in young talent an unsustainable and ultimately pointless endeavour. 

"The premise of the case was simple: Spurs were relegated, and players like Velebayi, Liam Bern, and Luke Baartman (all of which came through the Spurs academy over a combined period of 30 years) argued this fundamentally changed their employment, entitling them to walk away from their contracts. Spurs, a club with a three-decade legacy of nurturing talent, stood firm on the legal principle of pacta sunt servanda: a contract is a contract. The club sent letters to the players insisting their contracts remained valid and binding," they continued. 

"According to figures verified by the club’s auditors, the input cost for a single player who has been in the academy for 10 years is a minimum of R8,000,000. This staggering sum covers coaching, facilities, travel, education, and welfare. The training compensation fees a club might receive when an academy player signs their first professional contract cover less than 5% of this monumental investment.

"The entire business model, therefore, relies on the sanctity of that first professional contract. It is the club’s only mechanism to protect its investment and, hopefully, generate a future transfer fee that can be reinvested back into the next generation of youngsters," they further argued.

Spurs CEO Alexi Efstathiou has confirmed the club will appeal the decision. 

“We would never accuse someone with no evidence, as it would be irresponsible and unprofessional; we know what the player is valued at, he has a contract with our club, and that needs to be respected no matter the club," he stated as quoted by the club's media team.

"We will ascertain after consulting with the legal team the possibility of arbitration and appeal,” Efstathiou has said, indicating the club is not ready to give up the fight. “In the meantime, that will depend on the Baartman case and also the yet to be heard Bern case," he concluded. 

Well, it is interesting to see how this unending saga will conclude with Spurs determined to get paid for developing the player who has been linked to Chiefs alongside Luke Baartman. 

The conclusion of this case will set a precedent for similar cases.