Lidoda Duvha were adamant the midfielder would finish the season with them but they have decided against keeping him
Black Leopards have officially released reported Mamelodi Sundowns target Lesedi Kapinga.
The 25-year-old midfielder was set to finish the suspended campaign with Lidoda Duvha after the club confirmed he will not be leaving despite the expiry of his contract on June 30.
However, Leopards director Tshifhiwa Thidiela said they had to part ways with the nippy midfielder to protect him and the club.
“Yeah we can confirm that we have agreed for Lesedi Kapinga to go and join his new team, to protect him and ourselves as well,” Thidiela told FarPost.
Thidiela stated that with the club fighting for survival at the bottom of the PSL log, any mistake made by Kapinga on the pitch would create a negative hype.
“We know currently the club is at the bottom and you know it’s a matter of life and death. So, sometimes when people know that the player is moving somewhere it may be detrimental for him should he make mistakes even if it’s genuine. You will find that other players might feel, 'no it’s because his future is secured somewhere'.
"So, we would rather have him start his new life and we wish him the best,” he revealed.
Thidiela admitted that the departure of Kapinga is unfortunate that Kapinga had to leave more so because the club had a one-year option on his contract.
“We wish him the best, it is just unfortunate that he could not stay after having we had agreed to all that he had asked for, and I am not sure what happened because he kept on saying all is fine and he will sign with us. My worry is that we also had a one-year extension clause," continued Thidiela.
While Thidiela is pleased that Kapinga is joining another club for a better package, he expressed disappointment at the fact that Leopards didn't get to benefit financially for grooming him.
“As a team, we are also always happy when players move to greener pastures, especially when we played a role in their development and exposure.
"However, we feel that it’s sad when you develop a player and he moves without the team benefiting because more money is needed to develop and expose more players, especially from our home province in Limpopo," concluded Thidiela.
Kapinga joined Leopards in 2018 and has featured heavily for them over the past two seasons.
He leaves the Thohoyandou-based side having featured 58 times across all competitions for them.
He scored seven goals for them during his two-year stay with Leopards.