Earlier this week SABC Sport reported that Basadien had requested a transfer to join Amakhosi, with his agent also telling the public broadcaster of the player’s wish to move to Naturena.

While Benadie confirmed an offer on the table from Chiefs, he has stressed the club’s desire to retain the 27-year-old following the improved contract he signed in February.

"Fawaz is a consummate professional. Yes, there is an offer in from Kaizer Chiefs, [but] we improved his contract recently, and he's still contracted to Stellenbosch Football Club," said Benadie.

"And we want to keep him, he's a fantastic player, we don't want to go backwards with our squad, we want to continue and do similar type of performances as we did last season.

"So, Fawaaz is very important to us, he knows that and understands that, and there will always be pressure from the press and other clubs for a lot of our players because we are doing so well.

"But I trust in Fawaaz as an individual and a player to just be the professional that he is, and we've seen that in the first two games [so far], haven't we?"

With the PSL transfer window set to end in September, Benadie says it is unsettling to have a long window period and to try and ward off interest from the big three.

"It's not ideal, there are a number of players – not just at our club but at other clubs too, because the transfer window is open for so long, which is really unsettling," he added.

"At least we're playing games, there are a lot of clubs that aren't playing so they have to wait and there's transfer speculation on their players, so at least we're playing games and that makes it a little bit easier for us.

"But then it's also more opportunities for other clubs to see our players playing so well, and it's going to go until the last day of the transfer window.

"But we're quite steadfast on a certain number of players, we've already lost some important players as you know – some of it was unavoidable, so we don't want to lose Fawaz. We will do our utmost best to keep him here and keep him happy."

READ: How Stellenbosch survives losing key players

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