Ashley Cupido has scored an impressive 13 goals in 18 appearances for Cape Town Spurs in the Motsepe Foundation Championship.
That makes him the top goal scorer in the second tier of South African football.
Cupido is only 21-years-old, and finds the back the net with regularity in a tough league like the second-tier, that says a lot about his quality.
Siyavuma Sports Group, an agency that represents the player’s interests, have made it clear that their objective is to take the player overseas, where there is already interest in him.
“Ashley has great qualities; he’s a real handful with a desire and work rate, that you don’t often see, an ability to score goals, physically good, and a great professional. He is learning daily from his coach and technical team who have a wealth of experience between them,” Paul Mitchell, a representative from SSG, an agency that looks after Cupido’s interests told iDiski Times on Wednesday.
“There will always be interest in a player of Ashley’s quality, a goal scorer, his concentration now is only Spurs, promotion [to the DStv Premiership] and the U23’s,” he added.
“We will sit down at the end of the season, but our goal is to take Ashley overseas if possible and there is some interest, but for now as I say Spurs and promotion take first preference.”
While iDiski Times did mention that the big three are reportedly interested in the national under-23 international, there is one team that cannot afford to let Cupido slip through their fingers should an overseas move not materialize.
That team is Kaizer Chiefs.
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The fact of the matter is
Kaizer Chiefs is in need of a proven goal poacher.
It might be argued that they do have Caleb Bimenyimana, who has scored seven goals for them this season, and Christian Saile Basomboli, who came highly recommended from Nchanga Rangers in Zambia.
While it is early days for Saile, Bimenyimana has shown that he is not exactly the lethal striker he was made out to be, with more than half of his goals coming from penalties, including the famous hat-trick against Stellenbosch FC.
A brief look at the Amakhosi league stats tells a story of a club in desperate need for a goal scorer.
They have the second best xGF (expected goals for) average per game amongst the teams in the top eight, which is 1.66, behind Mamelodi Sundowns who average 1.87.
This means Amakhosi create almost the same quality chances as Sundowns, yet they only average 1.10 goals per match, compared to the Brazilians 1.86.
If Amakhosi were taking the chances they create, they would be second on the log right now, which is where Cupido may come in.
The youngster won’t need much time to adapt to the environment at Chiefs, he knows the club, it’s history and expectations, he knows the players as well.
At just 21-years-old, he is the right age for the direction that Amakhosi are taking, that of renewal as Kaizer Jr calls it, and it is no secret that Arthur Zwane likes his players younger and energetic, Cupido is all that.
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In a nutshell
If Cupido does not find an overseas club come the end of the season, Amakhosi should pull all the stops to bring him to Naturena.
He might just be the missing link in Arthur Zwane’s project.
Tags: Ashley Cupido, Kaizer Chiefs, Cape Town Spurs.
Key Phrases: Ashley Cupido, Kaizer Chiefs.
Categories: Dstv Premiership, South Africa.