Gavin Hunt, coach of Kaizer Chiefs with his assistant Dillon Sheppard (Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix)
But all that hope was crushed when the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced on Tuesday afternoon their dismissal of Amakhosi’s appeal which means the Naturena-based side cannot sign any new players until at least next season.
READ: Bad news for Kaizer Chiefs as CAS dismiss their transfer ban appeal
Chiefs were banned from registering any new players for two consecutive transfer windows after they were found to have erred in their acquisition of Malagasy midfielder, Adrianamirado Adrianarimanana back in 2018. Fifa’s Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) found that Amakhosi should have negotiated the transfer with Fosa Juniors, a team Adrianarimanana was contracted to at the time, and as a punishment banned for two transfer windows and a fine of around R650 000 in compensation to Juniors.
Asked about the finality to the matter which Amakhosi have been waiting on, hoping for a positive feedback after their appeal, Hunt admitted he had hoped to reinforce the team.
Amakhosi already have Sifiso Hlanti training with them without a contract and it is not clear what will happen with him now that the verdict has come out.
“I have, over the last month been looking at it with the hope that we are not going to get turned away, so, we are going to make it better, and I want to try and improve the team with (new) players,” said Hunt.
He said they have to look into what they have in the squad and work a way forward.
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