Richards Bay Football Club have surprisingly issued a warning to Premier Soccer League clubs attempting to poach star goalkeeper, Salim Magoola.
The 28-year-old has been one of the most consistent shot-stoppers in the division since making the step up from Motsepe Foundation Championship side, Pretoria Callies, at the start of last season.
The Ugandan International was named among the best goalkeepers of the 2022/2023 season and fell short of league winner Ronwen Williams, despite his team nearly suffering relegation.
Magoola has, unsurprisingly, attracted interest not only in South Africa, but also elsewhere on the African continent over the past year with his impressive 14 cleans in 38 games for the Natal Rich Boyz.
However, according to Richards Bay, clubs rallying for his signature have not properly conducted themselves with regards to discussing a potential move for the player.
Therefore, The Natal Rich Boyz has sent out a stern warning to those clubs to put an end attempts to poach the highly rated goal-minder.
“Richards Bay Football Club would like to raise a serious concern with the conduct of certain clubs in the Premier Soccer League and African continent leagues approaching our goalkeeper, Salim Magoola,” the club statement read.
“As the club we view this as total disrespect and unprofessional conduct by these clubs. Salim Magoola remains a Richards Bay Football Club player with a long-standing contract.
“The clubs know very well that, should they be interested, proper channels need to be followed and these should not be done through social media or directly with the player concerned.
“The club would further like to request those engaging on this unprofessional conduct to stop or follow proper procedures as we deem this as a serious plot against Richards Bay Football Club.”
The possible transfer of any player from one club to another, according to the International Federation of Association Football (Fifa), requires potential suitors to contact the club a player is contracted to, with intention to buy or loan a player.
However, players are free to begin discussions with other clubs if their current contracts have entered the last six months which also enables them to sign pre-contract agreements at these other clubs.
While the years remaining on Magoola’s contract have never been disclosed, it is assumed his contract has not reached a stage where he could discuss his new adventure with any club, which has left a bad taste in the mouth of Richards Bay.
The Kwazulu-natal outfit will need the expertise of Magoola for the remainder of the current campaign if they are to avoid relegation.
Led by head coach Kaitano Tembo, Richards Bay currently hold the relegation play-off spot in 15th place on the DStv Premiership standings, but with huge promise as they are just three points from 13th placed TS Galaxy.
IOL Sport