It seems Cape Town Spurs aren't backing down from their stance of trying to hold onto as many of their key players as possible following their relegation, if the comments of club CEO Alexi Efstathiou are anything to go by.
It's not unusual for the big clubs to come knocking on the door of a side headed for Motsepe Foundation Championship football from the top division, looking to to prize some of their stars away, and this time around, the likes of Ashley Cupido, Asanele Velebayi and Rushwin Dortley have been linked with big moves.
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Head coach Ernst Middendorp himself did say, after their last game of the season against Kaizer Chiefs last weekend, that he wouldn't hesitate to sign these and other players from the Urban Warriors if he were to sign elsewhere, noting their quality.
However, in a conversation with KickOff, Efstathiou made it clear his players will not come cheap to whoever is interested.
"I didn't bump into the Chiefs management after the match. To be honest, some of our players, I don't think even Mamelodi Sundowns can afford them.
"They want to buy foreigners for R40 million and R50 million, but they don't want to pay that for local players. Why? I don't know.
"But at the moment, let me just say, there's a lot of interest in our players. I don't want to specify where these offers are from though."
Efstathiou was also pleased with his team's five-star performance against the struggling Amakhosi on Saturday.
"We were just unfortunate with the way we started the season, but we started planning [for the future] from Monday.
"There's no challenge in keeping our players because they have got contracts. We will decide which ones we will put on the transfer list.
"Teams mustn't think they will just come and take a player if he's got a contract. If you take Velebayi, every game he's played has increased his value, and on Saturday he was wow!
"And Ashley Cupido, as [with] most of our players, has improved a lot."
Efstathiou also revealed that the club was still planning to sit down with Middendorp regarding his future at Ikamva.
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"Yes, we don't have a problem with the coach and I don't think he's got a problem with us. But football is football, so we will see. We had to focus on finishing the season first."
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