CAPE TOWN - CAPE Town City chairman John Comitis has confirmed that a proposed move to Turkey for influential midfielder Thabo Nodada has fallen through due to injury.
Nodada who penned a new City contract last year to keep him at the club until 2024, has attracted plenty of interest locally the past season from the likes of Kaizer Chiefs and others due to his consistently sparkling performances.
But the 26-year-old has always been adamant that he would only consider a move away from the Citizens if a European deal was put on the table.
His dream seemed to be close to fruition this week, but the creative playmaker unfortunately aggravated a hamstring injury which he has been suffering from all pre-season after coming on as second-half substitute in the MTN8 quarter-final victory over AmaZulu last weekend.
“I had a deal on the table yesterday from Turkey for Thabo,” Comitis told the media at CT City’s head-office.
“We were discussing a loan with an option (to make it permanent) when I got a call from the medical team. He’s had an MRI scan and he is out for four weeks with a hamstring. It is unfortunate.”
Prior to coach Eric Tinkler returning to Cape Town at the backend of last season, there had been plenty of speculation surrounding the exit of a number of senior City players, namely Nodada, Taariq Fielies and Mduduzi Mdantsane, to Johannesburg-based clubs.
City have, though, kept their spine for the new season, retaining their core players while adding some serious quality, particularly in defence and goalkeeping department.
Comitis humorously stated that “I’ve been waiting on these calls” although he admitted that last season’s January transfer window was potentially a busy period.
The City boss, however, stressed that the Citizens will remain a club that looks to sell their players to an overseas market before considering loading off their players to any of their local rivals.
“We work around the clock to work with the European market. It’s a multiple countries that we work with. We are saying that if a player excels, then he deserves to improve himself and his career, then we want to send him overseas. That’s our first option. Things haven’t worked out when they end up at Sundowns or Pirates," Comitis said.
"I have put in place an aggressive network into the European market. Sending Thabo overseas excites me, even if he went on a free loan, than selling him here and getting a few million, because it sends the right message to the rest of the players.”
City open their 2021/22 Dstv Premiership campaign against SuperSport United at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday. Kickoff is at 5pm.
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