Barker insists on keeping players

Cape Town - AmaZulu coach Steve Barker has confirmed that the core of his senior team remains intact and is expecting minimal departures before the transfer window closes.

The likes of Marc van Heerden, Goodman Dlamini, Bornwell Mwape, Energy Murambadoro and Sadate Ouro-Akoriko have all reported for training at relegated Usuthu in the past few weeks.

"There will always be speculation, but at the end of the day they are contracted to AmaZulu and we won't be selling these players unless their valuations are met," Barker told Football411.

"Every player has a value and at this stage there aren't any offers that we're entertaining."

The AmaZulu boss was also adamant that these senior players were committed to playing National First Division (NFD) football in 2015/16.

The likes of Van Heerden and Dlamini have been linked with moves, but Barker believes they are staying put.

"Currently they are all committed to helping the club," he explained.

"But it's always a situation where if Mamelodi Sundowns or Kaizer Chiefs came with an offer that meets the value and they offered a contract the payer was happy with, then that will change the picture.

"But currently the players are happy to stay.

"We want to be successful and want to give ourselves the best chance to be promoted. In order to do that we need to retain the players that have done well for us."

Due to the NFD only starting in late August, the club only began pre-season training just over two weeks ago.