Club Career
Radebe was spotted and signed by Kaizer Chiefs as a midfielder. In 1991 he was shot whilst driving, though luckily he was not critically wounded. The motive for the shooting never became clear, but Radebe himself believes that someone had been hired to shoot him in order to prevent him from moving to another club.
Partially motivated by the shooting incident and at the request of his FIFA agent Marcelo Houseman, Lucas and another South African player, Philemon "Chippa" Masinga, moved to Leeds United in 1994 after a meeting between then Manager of Leeds Howard Wilkinson and Marcelo Houseman; Radebe was sold by the Kaizer Chiefs for £250,000.
After a slow start to his Leeds career, Radebe flourished under the management of George Graham, by the time David O'Leary took charge in 1998, chants of "Rhoo" and cheers at the mention of "The Chief's" name became commonplace at Elland Road, as he developed a touching relationship with the fans. In recognition of his leadership and ability, Radebe was appointed captain of the team for the 1998/99 season.
As captain of Leeds, Radebe was very successful: in the 1998/1999 season, Leeds finished fourth in the FA Premier League qualifying for the UEFA Cup. During the 1999/2000 season, Leeds finished third in the Premier League and qualified for the Champions League, reaching the semi-finals. However, in 2000, Radebe sustained knee and ankle injuries, which kept him out of the game for almost two years. During his time at Leeds Lucas turned down the chance to move to both Manchester United and A.C. Milan feeling too strong an emotional bond to Leeds and their fans. Radebe had also attracted interest from Fabio Capello at Roma and Alex Ferguson commented at the time "Everyone should be interested in Lucas". Radebe scored three goals during his spell at Leeds, but none in the league. The first came against Oxford United in the 1997/98 FA Cup, and he then scored twice in Leeds' 1999/2000 UEFA Cup campaign against Partizan Belgrade and Spartak Moscow.
Read more about this topic: Lucas Radebe
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