While all the media attention over the past week has been firmly on happenings at the Kaizer Chiefs village - many media houses have been focusing on the departure of Ernst Middendorp and the arrival of Kosta Papic as his replacement.

Almost anything else happening at Chiefs has gone through almost unnoticed, while one daily newspaper did carry the story last week many journalists and some Amakhosi die hards might have missed the face that Chiefs had secured the services of former Silver Stars midfielder Thuso Phala.

Described as having the panache of Doctor Khumalo the national under twenty three player, signed a five year contract with Chiefs but will only be able to play in official league and cup games for Chiefs at the start of the 2007 – 2008 season which will be some time in August this year.

Phala’s first day at the job was more like an orientation day at high school, as he traveled with members of the Kaizer Chiefs first team and reserve team to Tshwane on Monday where the Chiefs reserves were in action against the SuperSport United counterparts.

KC.COM. used the opportunity to chat to Chiefs latest signing about his fairy tale move to the Amakhosi, and what he aims to achieve with Chiefs over the next five years.

KC.COM: Thuso welcome to Kaizer Chiefs, with all that was going on at the club last week many peopled missed the fact that you had signed for Chiefs?

TP: Actually I was kind of happy that there was not much made of the move, as I will only be able to play for Chiefs from next season. It kind of worked in my favour that people were concentrating on other things, I do believe that my time to do interviews in depth and speak at length about joining Chiefs will come. For the mean time I am just glad to have secured my playing future with the most loved team in the country.

KC.COM: The process of you becoming a Chiefs player really went very quick, the one day you were a Silver Stars player and a few days later you had put pen to paper with Chiefs?

TP: I had never really given much thought about where I was going to go at the end of the current season when my contract with Silver Stars would be up. When the contract talks fell through with them, I must say they were really good about everything and allowed me to leave without a problem. It really helped me because I could go into the market place and find a new team. We started speaking to Chiefs on one day and a few days later I came to the village and signed a contract - thankfully things with Chiefs went very smoothly and we were able to agree on terms fairly quickly.

KC.COM: When did it become a reality to you that you are now a Kaizer Chiefs player?

TP: I live with my mother who incidentally works for Silver Stars as their PRO (Susan Phala) and when over breakfast on Monday she said to me that today is the first day as a professional soccer player that we will not be part of the same team, that kind of put things into perspective. As I got into my car I kept on thinking that this can’t be right, when I got to the village the guards did not hesitate and opened up for me. I think at that moment I realized that the first part of a life long dream I had, had fallen into place.

KC.COM: Could you give us a brief history of your playing career so far?

TP: Sure I began playing organized football at the age of ten when my mother took me to the Wits University academy, and basically that is where I learnt the basics about the game. I spent about four years at Wits before moving to Silver Stars when I was around 16 years of age, and I made my professional debut at the age of 19 for Stars.

KC.COM: Many Chiefs fans will remember you for your performance against the Amakhosi back in November during the quarterfinals of the Telkom Cup earlier this season?

TP: When you are playing for a smaller team one always looks forward to playing against the big teams, because you know that a good performance will make the big teams come calling. That is what happened when I played Chiefs in November, thankfully my performance got me a deal at Chiefs. There will come a time when I will put in those kind of performance for Chiefs and not just against Silver Stars. The thing is that I am already looking forward to the matches against Silver Stars, this time the shoe will definitely be on the other foot for me.

KC.COM: Over the next few months what will your programme be like over the next few months, as you will be unable to play in any competitive matches for Chiefs?

TP: I will be keeping fit by training with the team on a daily basis, so that should keep me busy. The coach has told me that he will use me in friendly matches and I do believe that there is a friendly game against Celtic some time next week.

I hope that I will get to play some time in that game, my real focus is on staying fit and looking forward to the pre-season programme for next season which should begin in July.