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Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has explained the reason behind Zakhele Lepasa’s loan to SuperSport United while highlighting that no one is guaranteed minutes in his team.
Lepasa completed a rather surprising transfer deadline day move on Tuesday, joining SuperSport on a short-term deal until the end of the current season.
The 25-year-old has struggled to cement his place in the Bucs team this season, featuring in only 10 matches – only five of them in the starting XI – out of the 18 played so far in the league.
The Spanish tactician explained that this prompted the player’s decision to seek game time elsewhere, while he holds no grudges over Lepasa’s decision to jump ship
"First of all, I wish all the best to Zakhele, he's a fantastic guy and a very good football player. Like I said before, this is a competitive environment and we have 36 players in the squad, and there's no possibility to guarantee minutes to anyone," explained Riveiro.
"And I understand, not only Zakes, every other player who decides that he needs to play more so he will find a possibility to get those minutes in a different place – it's something that I have to respect and accept as a coach.
"Hopefully Zakhele can show at SuperSport the player he is, and yeah, what else can I say? It's a normal thing in football, especially when we talk about a big and quality squad like this.
"It's difficult to, how can I say, give to the players what they really deserve, it's almost impossible, so sometimes the players decide to look for that reward somewhere else and it's something respectable, and it's not going to be a problem."
