STUART Baxter yesterday came face-to-face with his Kaizer Chiefs employers but denied that he had been approached by the South African Football Association (Safa) to take up the vacant technical director position.

SSafa has claimed that talks with the man they will name in that role next week are at an advanced stage. The Amakhosi coach is their leading candidate, leaving the club management on edge and worried that their preparations for the coming Premier Soccer League season will be disrupted if they have to search for a replacement.

Chiefs manager Bobby Motaung said: "The coach has told me and the chairman [Kaizer Motaung] that he has also been reading about the Safa job in the papers. Nothing has changed. He is still our coach and we haven't had any formal approach from Safa.

"I can't say what action we will take if it turns out the coach has been talking to Safa. At the moment we are taking his word for it and can't assume anything else. We would prefer to deal with something that we know about, not hearsay".

Baxter is committed to Amakhosi until 2016, and Safa has allegedly given him until today to express his interest in the position.

Yesterday, Safa CEO Dennis Mumble revealed that the mandate for the technical director has already been discussed with "three candidates" - who are all keen.

Mumble said: "We are still on schedule to announce the technical director along with the [Bafana] coach next week. We are engaging a few people who we think are appropriate for this position."

Asked about Baxter in particular, who is also a former Bafana coach, Mumble did not want to go into detail. "I really don't want to jeopardise our relationship with the clubs and, in one case, a national association where one candidate is coming from. I don't want to mention names."