Former Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Brian Baloyi has revealed how the club blocked his move to English Premier League giants Liverpool.
Baloyi played for Chiefs for over a decade before joining Mamelodi Sundowns in 2004.
He was at his peak in the late 1990s and early 2000s, impressing at the 1998 AFCON and FIFA World Cup.
Liverpool expressed interest in Baloyi and invited him to train with the club. However, the Chiefs chairman, Kaizer Motaung, refused to release him.
HOW KAIZER MOTAUNG BLOCKED BALOYI’S POTENTIAL MOVE TO LIVERPOOL
“In 1998 we went to the World Cup, great Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Peta Bala’c comes to our camp,” said Baloyi.
“He says Brian I’ve been seeing you on TV. I said, ‘My agent is here, speak to my agent’.
“He said I’ve been speaking to Bruce Grobler and we want to get you to Liverpool.
“I said to them I’m here to play the World Cup, I had just had a great AFCON in Burkina Faso.
“And they said the chairman is here. He was there in the same hotel with us. He promised us that after the World Cup when the preseason starts, we will allow him to come for a week and train, then we can make decisions.
“Then we come back after the World Cup, then I remember that those people made contacts with chairman. And the chairman said, ‘No trial, if they want you they must buy you’.”
Furthermore, Copenhagen expressed a desire in having Baloyi to undergo a week of training with their team before they potentially made a decision regarding his acquisition.
Motaung reiterated his stance that Baloyi should be purchased outright instead of going a trial.
‘COPENHAGEN ARE CRAZY ABOUT YOU’
“Later, Copenhagen, when Sibusiso Zuma was at Copenhagen we were very good mates in the national team,” he continued.
“He told his coach about me and there was a guy who used to work for a company called Hummel, he lived here in SA as they sponsored Wits.
“The guy was friends with my agent and he said Copenhagen are crazy about you.
“We started talking, same thing. Sbu (Zuma) used to say when we get to camp, ‘Ey spider you are not serious’ and I would say I have a contract (with Chiefs).
“Them as well, wanted me to come over, train with them.
“Copenhagen came to SA in Port Elizabeth. They had their pre-season here.
“They said, ‘We are in South Africa, can he come here’ and the chairman said, ‘No if you want him buy him’.”
