As part of their reconstruction programme, Black Leopards have offloaded seven players.

Speaking to Limpopo Mirror earlier this week, the general manager of the team, Mr Samuel Khaphathe, confirmed the seven players as being Dingaan Metzi, goalkeeper Vusimuzi Gwanya, Fisher Kondowe, Dingane Masanabo, Shonisani Mashao, Bernard Harawa and Tsepo Malesa.

According to Mr Khaphathe, the seven players were released for various reasons.

He stated that players like Tsepo Malesa and Shonisani Mashao did not feature in any of their matches last season, saying that keeping them in the team would be fruitless and wasteful expenditure. He further indicated that although Bernard Harawa, Fisher Kondowe, Vusimuzi Gwanya and Dingaan Metsi featured in some of the games last season, their contribution to the success of the team was minimal.

Dingane Masanabo was let go for a different reason. Khaphathe said that although Masanabo had played a major role towards the promotion of Black Leopards, his contract with the club expired at the end of last month and the team’s head coach, Mr Sunday Chidzambwa, had indicated to the management that the player was not part of his plans for the coming season.

When asked as to how they were planning to replace the released players, Khaphathe said that they were busy assessing a number of players from Premier Soccer League teams and abroad. Although Khaphathe was reluctant to confirm this, Limpopo Mirror was reliably informed that Lidoda Duvha had already secured the signatures of three players from the relegated Vasco Da Gama, including goalkeeper Postnet Omony.

The former Mpumalanga Black Aces Zambian goalkeeper, Francis Chansa, is also training with the team and insiders say the technical team was already impressed with his performance. Leopards suffered a great deal when they lost their Malawian international, Robert Ngambi, to Platinum Stars last week. Ngambi’s contract with Leopards came to an end last month.