Mendieta to Chiefs, Downs? Europe or nowhere, Barker warns PSL clubs raiding Stellies for talent

Stellenbosch FC head coach Steve Barker has admitted that the Cape Winelands club will do all it can to stave off any Premier Soccer League clubs wanting to sign their top talented players.

Last season, Stellies cashed in on the likes of Ashley du Preez and Zitha Kwinika, who both joined Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs, while their former captain, Mogamad de Goede, signed for Maritzburg United.

As the domestic football campaign enters the tail-end, and with the off-season window set to open in June (it closes end of August) clubs are already plotting their squad blueprints for next season.

One player on Chiefs, Mamelodi Sundowns and SuperSport United's radar is Junior Mendieta. The Argentine touched down in the Cape in 2020 and has since put on dazzling displays all over South Africa in Stellies' famous maroon.

The 29-year-old has netted 14 goals across all competitions.

Barker, who put pen to paper on a new deal with Stellies in October 2022, does not want to lose another key player as he feels it will only deter the club's progress.

"It's been made clear that we must do everything to keep our best players," Barker told reporters on Wednesday. Stellenbosch take on Sundowns in their Nedbank Cup quarter-final at Athlone Stadium on Saturday. (Kick off is at 18:00.)

"It wouldn't make sense for us to go into a new cycle. At the end of last season, we basically started a new cycle with a lot of young players and a lot of incomings [and] to now sort of break that ...

"So, the next season or the season beyond, we want to keep the team together and achieve things as a team.

"I think with the young players getting better over the next year or two and retaining [them] and maybe here and there adding a player, it will allow the team to continue