Kaizer Chiefs DDC coach Dillon Sheppard has responded to why the club has been losing a handful of youngsters lately.
In the past two seasons, the club notably lost Puso Dithejane [now at TS Galaxy] and Omega Mdaka [now at Stellenbosch FC] after they refused to be ball boys.
They also, most recently, lost Siphesihle Tati and Ntandoyenkosi Nkosi after their pivotal roles in the DDC title triumph this season.
Sheppard has openly acknowledged the challenging reality that not every player from the DDC will ultimately earn a promotion to the Chiefs' highly competitive first team.
SHEPPARD SAYS NOT ALL CHIEFS DDC PLAYERS WILL BE PROMOTED
“I think we need to look at the positive of the players that we producing not everyone is gonna get promoted to the first team that’s reality,” Sheppard told the media.
“With likes of Mdu and Duba if you look at them, they all 2004 with Mfundo 2005 so we already have four players promoted from our DDC team. Other players their pathways unfortunately they not gonna go to the first team they need other places to go to.
“They go out and they found their careers, like the likes of Zitha, the likes of Mdantsane who find their ways somewhere else and then they ended up back here. So, everyone’s got their pathways, everyone got their ways to find themselves and that’s the reality of football.
“You cannot play 11 DDC players in the first team and at Chiefs you know the pressure and where the team is at. Those youngsters that are there at the moment are still finding their feet and there’s a lot of pressure at the moment.
“Like I said, it’s important that we find these players pathways and we wish them all the best when they do find pathways.”
