Spurs went into the final day of the Motsepe Foundation Championship needing to beat log leaders Durban City to survive the drop, however the 1-0 defeat effectively eliminated yet another institution to the lower leagues.

The Premier Soccer League only has two tiers that are classified as professional and that is the Betway Premiership and the National First Division, referred to as the Motsepe Foundation Championship for sponsorship reasons.

According to the regulations, if a player is contracted to a non-professional club their status means they can leave at any given time.

The public broadcaster reached out to several experts who spoke on condition of anonymity to confirm whether the attacker would be remaining with Spurs beyond the current season.

“No, his contract is of a professional nature and as far as I understand the procedures Asanele and his teammates are effectively free agents and can get their clearances tomorrow if need be,” one of them explained.

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The 23-year-old was wanted by Kaizer Chiefs back in August, with the Soweto giants tabling a R4-million offer which was rejected by Spurs.

CEO Alexi Efstathiou described him as a “diamond” the club invested heavily in to let go for an amount that did not meet their evaluation of the player.

They are now set to lose him on a free, but can claim development compensation although that could be a long drawn out process.

It remains to be seen whether teams in both the Motsepe Foundation and the Betway Premiership will be lining up to sign Velebayi in the coming weeks now that there will be no transfer fee involved – only personal terms.

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