MBABANE – Mbabane Swallows attacking midfielder Felix ‘Fela’ Badenhorst’s move to Royal Leopard might hit a snag.
It was reported by our publication earlier this month that the 2022/23 MTN Premier League leading goalscorer was on the shopping list of Royal Leopard going into the new season. Impeccable sources close to the player revealed that ‘Fela’ met with Ingwe mabalabala officials, who made it known to him that they believed he would help take the former league triple winners back to Africa. “Royal Leopard management has been left disappointed on the past season as they failed to defend their title, so they want to add up to four quality players who will help the club. Felix has been one of the names that had been identified and we believe that he can help the team to compete for the honours next season,” the source said.
According to the source, latest developments coming from the Leopard camp surrounding the move of the former TS Galaxy player, who is currently trending after being left again in the national set-up to play against Togo tomorrow, was that Coach Edwin Matsebula was reluctant on the club signing the player because his playing style was similar to that of Junior Magagula.
“Coach Edwin likes Felix as a player, but he feels he won’t be able to play them at the same time with Junior, whom he regards as someone to build the team going to the new season. He feels that Junior is able to score goals and assist the team and playing them with Felix at the same time would expose them because both players are not players who are good when it comes to defending.” the source explained.
Hierarchy
The source went on to reveal that Leopard top hierarchy were the ones who normally do the signing of players without the input of the coach in most cases. “The coach doesn’t normally have a say when players are signed, especially when the player is on demand like Felix. I believe that the player will definitely be one of the major players who will be likely to play for the team next season despite the coach having no interest in him,” the source added.
Meanwhile, Matsebula said he was not the right person to talk to regarding players who are linked with the police service outfit. “We have someone in the club who talks about news pertaining to the team. I believe general, Felix is a good player who can help any club in the league,” Matsebula briefly said. The Swallows forward finished the recently ended season with 20 goals and helped the team finish on the third place position. The defending champions Public Relations Officer (PRO) Frank Hurube and Felix could not be drawn for comment after both their phones rang unanswered by the time this report was compiled.
