Why the other George is also not able to walk away from Chiefs without any stick from their fans

It has been almost a month since it was announced that George Maluleka will leave Kaizer Chiefs at the end of the 2019/20 for Mamelodi Sundowns. Maluleka becomes the second George that Kaizer Chiefs has lost to Pitso Mosimane's side. This is a move that seems necessary for the 31-year-old midfielder, as he could be looking for that one final paycheck.

This move, however, was not well-received by the Amakhosi faithful. Not only is Maluleka moving to their archrivals, the move was announced at a critical stage of the season for the 2019/20 log leaders. The problem Kaizer Chiefs fans have is that they felt that the player's motivation and effort fell away during the second round of their league campaign. This was somewhat evident in their last league loss to AmaZulu. The club's supporters felt that Maluleka, who was the captain on the night just didn't do enough to justify wearing the captain's armband.

The news that he had signed a pre-contract with Mamelodi Sundowns was announced a few days after that loss and the fans felt vindicated and justified for criticizing him for his lukewarm performances throughout the campaign. The club and the player agree to a fixed-term contract as per the FIFA laws, and when it has lapsed, neither party is obliged to sign a new contract, that's how things are done in the world of football. In Maluleka's case, Kaizer Chiefs reportedly offered him a two-year extension plus a one year option which the player turned down. Nobody should blame George for rejecting this deal – he's on the wrong side of 30 and his priority should be securing his financial future. Any sane footballer at his age would do the same. George has never been keen to leave Kaizer Chiefs. He even favored a move to the club as opposed to Sundowns when both teams were after his services 6 years ago. While others feel like he should stay since Chiefs may be hit with the transfer ban, the player will feel that the club did not do enough to retain his services. The club just didn't give him the contract he wanted. But he stayed, put his head down, worked hard and played an important role for the club this season who find themselves on top of the log with 8 games to go. The club's supporters will, however, choose to focus on his bad performances, not the good ones. This is the nature of football fans.

Kaizer Chiefs certainly dropped the ball by not opening the negotiations with him a lot earlier. The fact that they are faced with a transfer ban should have been reason enough for them to make Maluleka's contract extension a priority. George will leave at the end of this current campaign and there will certainly be bad blood between him and the supporters. The player will likely be frozen out for the remainder of the season and not allowed anywhere near the first team. Despite all this, if Kaizer Chiefs go on to lose the league title to Mamelodi Sundowns, he will be blamed for it.

Goerge Maluleka will be remembered by Kaizer Chiefs fans as the player who betrayed the team and cost Chiefs the league title rather than the player who was key in the team's success when they won trophies under the tutelage of Stuart Baxter.