Tinkler shocked by Erasmus exit

Cape Town - Orlando Pirates coach Eric Tinkler says he had no idea that striker Kermit Erasmus was going to sign for French Ligue 1 side Stade Rennes.

The news came through on Thursday night, taking many by surprise, after it was confirmed that Erasmus had penned a two-and-a-half-year-deal with the Brittany outfit.

"He's a massive loss. The information I was given by him was that he had to attend to an urgent family matter in Holland," Tinkler was quoted as saying by KickOff.

"So this comes as a surprise. But we will make more comment on that tomorrow [Friday].

"He hasn't been here since last week Monday, before the Cosmos game. Since then he hasn't been in my plans. We tried to contact him but we were unable to do that," added the coach, who is set to lead Bucs into battle against arch-rivals Kaizer Chiefs on Saturday.

Kick-off is at 15:30.