Rusike wanted by big local clubs

Cape Town - Maritzburg United boss Farook Kadodia has confirmed that a handful of top Premiership clubs have shown interest in attacker Evans Rusike.

The 25-year-old was recognised for his outstanding campaign with the Player of the Season award at the Team of Choice.

Rusike scored a brace to help his team secure a miraculous escape from relegation on the last day of the season with a 3-1 win over Jomo Cosmos.

"I must confirm that we had approaches from big clubs from South Africa and people who thought we will be relegated," Kadodia told KickOff.

"It took a while for him to settle. It took us at least four months. But we have made a decision and we will not sell our players and break up the team.

"If there is a situation of any other player we will look at it and it will all depend on circumstances. On Rusike’s case we had to be patient with him to settle down for four months and the current coach got the best out of him.

"We have definitely acknowledged that and we would like the coach to get more out of him before we put him into the international market."