Shabba reveals how Zungu convinced him to move to AmaZulu

Having refused some offers including a return to the club who gave him his first break, Swallows FC, Siphiwe “Shabba” Tshabalala has revealed how a personal meeting with AmaZulu FC’s new owner and president, Sandile Zungu convinced him to agree to join Usuthu.

READ: Confirmed: Tshabalala joins AmaZulu along with Memela and Mulenga

Shabba was officially announced as one of the new recruits of the KwaZulu-Natal-based side on Monday afternoon.

“I would like to thank the president, Sandile Zungu. I had meetings with him and he told me the plans he has for the team and that’s why I came here,” Tshabalala told the media afterward. “It’s a new chapter for me and I hope I will be able to help the team – both on and off the field.

“I have been working really hard, obviously doing individual training to make sure that I am in good physical condition,” he added.

Zungu has set a mandate of a top-four finish for the club and when asked if this was not asking too much too soon, Tshabalala said: “I would not want to use the word impossible.

“It is difficult but possible and it can be achieved but I just got here so I can’t wait to meet the rest of the team and start working with them.  We start against Pirates and then three days later there is another game so it is going to be a tough season and I definitely think the guys are up to it. That’s how we strive as top players to compete against the best and be tested.”

AmaZulu are the 36-year-old Tshabalala’s second top-flight team in South Africa having played only for Kaizer Chiefs before in the Premiership.

He joined Amakhosi in January 2007 and left in August 2018 for a short and disappointing stint with BB Erzurumspor in Turkey. He had been without a club since leaving the Turkish side in May 2019.