Will Pirates captain Happy Jele be getting a new contract?
Injury means Jele last played in the league for Pirates at the end of February.
Happy Jele is in fresh contract negotiations with Pirates. Picture: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix
Orlando Pirates defender Happy Jele missed a lot of games lately through injury, making the Buccaneers’ captain worried about his contract negotiations with the club, with his current term at the team coming to an end in June.
According to a source, missing a lot of games will dent his chances of negotiating a proper contract with the club management.
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The Pirates captain was handed a one-year extension to his stay at the Soweto giants last season. Jele is currently the longest- serving player at Bucs, having joined the club back in 2006.
“For a club to give you a good contract you have to be playing regularly and performing very well. It’s not the case for him at the moment and it’s really worrying because he knows that if he is not playing he is likely to agree on whatever terms the club is willing to give him,” a source told the Mgosi Squad.
“There will be things like salary cuts and I don’t think he will be ready for that. But, as much as he is not sleeping over that (contract negotiations), he believes the club wont take him as just an ordinary player. He’s been at the club for far too long and he has been a loyal servant of the team. He deserves a good deal, but nothing has been said yet to him.
“I don’t know if the management have already discussed it by themselves or not. The good thing about all of this is that he is certain that he will be at the club next season because even the coach wants him to stay.”
