Times Of Swaziland: ‘FELA’ IS  ‘JUNIOR’S  REPLICA

‘FELA’ IS  ‘JUNIOR’S  REPLICA
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Machawe Fakudze on 17/06/2023 09:26:00


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.