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Cape Town - SuperSport United CEO Stan Matthews says Thabo Qalinge must show in the next seven games that he deserves a contract extension with the club.
The 28-year-old midfielder joined Matsatsantsa from Orlando Pirates at the start of the season but has since struggled for game time under head coach Kaitano Tembo.
Matthews has explained that he likes Qalinge but can't simply give him a new deal if Tembo doesn't intend to use him next season.
"We've got until May to exercise the option and at the moment, I can't take that because I haven't seen enough," Matthews said, according to SowetanLive.
"If you can say you have seen enough to decide to keep the player at the moment, we haven't seen that. The door is open for him but he needs to be playing and contributing to us winning and at the moment, he is not playing."
"He's got seven games to show us what he can do, it was the same with (George) Lebese last year, I can bring players here if they want to play, and they have to put their hands up," Matthews added.
"[Mxolisi] Machupu last year scored goals and he put his hands up. I made the offer to Wits to keep him permanently (after his loan expired) and they turned me down.
"[But] I would love to keep Qalinge next year, he is someone who has been with us before and I like him a lot.
"But at the end of the day, a coach will decide to make that call in the next couple of months. I can only look from aside and say I have not seen enough myself to expect that Kaitano (Tembo) is going to tell me to keep Qalinge unless something changes in the remaining games."
- TEAMtalk media
