Fielies ready for big trek to Gauteng

Amid strong speculation that the big-three in Mamelodi Sundowns, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates are interested in his services, highly rated Cape Town City defender Taariq Fielies has revealed he’s ready to move to Gauteng.

Since joining City from then second-tier outfit Milano United in 2017, Fielies has grown to be one of the most respected centre-backs in the league.

The 29-year-old defender’s solid displays over the past three seasons look to have not gone unnoticed as Sundowns, Chiefs and Pirates are understood to be keen to bring him on board ahead of the 2021/22 term.

Speaking to Sowetan yesterday, Fielies didn’t hide his desire to move to Gauteng. However, the City defender maintained no team has spoken to him yet, insinuating the interested clubs may have opted to negotiate with City first as he is still contracted to them until June 2023.

“From my side, I don’t know what’s happening, I am still on holiday. Perhaps the club [City] know something about the interest from other clubs. To be honest, I have heard that there could be a possibility to move but I will just have to wait and see,’’ Fielies said yesterday.

“The time now allows me to probably go to a team in Gauteng. I feel like I am really ready for the next challenge in my career. I haven’t spoken to City yet, but I can’t hide that I am ready for the next challenge, that’s it.’’

Last season, the Ajax Cape Town academy product missed just three league games as City finished seventh on the DStv Premiership standings. Fielies is of the view he had an average season as an individual,  admitting that as a team they also punched below their weight.

“Personally, I think I did okay… I can’t say I did well because I know there were games where I could have done better and there were moments where I could've applied myself better than I did. As a team, we also didn’t perform to our full potential,’’ stated the City defender.