WARRIORS defender Teenage Hadebe is set for a return to Turkey, with reports suggesting he is joining Super Lig relegation strugglers Konyaspor on a short-term deal.
The defender is a free agent after he was released by Major League Soccer (MLS) side Dynamo Houston at the end of the 2023 season.
He left the US topflight league after spending two and half years.
Reports in Turkey show that the 28-year-old has already agreed to a short four-month contract, which expires at the end of the season.
The deal will be made permanent if the team manages to avoid relegation.
He is expected to arrive in Instanbul this weekend to undergo his medical before signing the contract.
Konyaspor is fighting relegation and wants to bolster their squad in their desperate bid to avoid the chop.
It appears the club has identified Hadebe as one of the players that could be key in keeping afloat in the topflight league.
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Konyaspor is currently second from bottom of the 20-team standings with 22 points, four behind a team sitting on the relegation cutoff point. There are a handful of games left before the season ends.
If the deal materialises, as is expected, Hadebe will be returning to Turkey where he had a stint with Yeni Malatyaspor before moving to Houston.
He spent two seasons at the Turkey topflight side, making 53 appearances. It was in the final season where he shone and was named in the Süper Lig Team of the Season to attract interests from the US.
In 2021, Hadebe signed with Houston Dynamo as a designated player.
The Designated Player Rule, nicknamed the Beckham rule, allows MSL franchises to sign up to three players that would be considered outside their salary cap (either by offering the player higher wages or by paying a transfer fee for the player). The rule, which was adopted ahead of the 2007 MLS season, enables teams to compete for star players in the international football market.
Hadebe enjoyed his time at Houston where he made a total of 46 league appearances for the MLS side and was voted Dynamo Defender of the Year and Dynamo Newcomer of the Year in his debut season.
A hugely popular figure in the squad, "Member" as he is popularly known, also helped his side beat Lionel Messi's Inter Miami to win the US Open Cup last season but was surprisingly released at the end of the campaign in December.
Hadebe is a key member of the Warriors team and is expected to be part of the squad when they resume their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign with matches against Lesotho and South Africa this June.
He played full matches in the opening qualifiers against Rwanda and Nigeria at the end of last year.
