Thuso Phala has distanced himself from his mother's utterances that he has retired from football.

Phala's mom Suzan has been quoted in the media as stating her son's departure from Black Leopards hurt him to a point where he was considering to quit the game altogether.

But the 33-year-old speedy winger has refuted those claims.

"I don't know who interviewed my mom instead of me. I don't know about that [retiring]," Phala told Sowetan.

"I'm not retiring, man. A man must make a plan going forward, that's why I need to start planning now, moving forward."

Phala's claim that he has not quit football has been supported by his agency QT Sports.

"With all that has been said, we need to place it on record that Thuso will not be retiring from football.

"We will embark on finding him a team for the upcoming 2020/21 season," a statement from QT Sports said.

Last week, Phala terminated his contract with Leopards and explained why he decided to do quit Lidoda Duvha in the middle of the season.

"I arranged with Leopards since I was not going to be there next season and seeing that this coronavirus is prolonging, we decided in good terms that we end our relationship now," Phala said.

"The pandemic played a part in me leaving Leopards, now we are closed because of it.

"It was just for me to get a clearance and start planning going forward and it was only the right thing to do, I think."

Besides age not being on his side, Phala, who will be 34 next month, remains hopeful that he will get a team in the new season.

"I'm still going to play next season. My manager is handling everything at the moment.

"We will sit down when this lockdown is finished and see if the league is going to finish, now it's very difficult because we don't know what's happening in our football."

Phala played 13 matches for relegation-threatened Leopards in all competitions this season.

He was previously in the books of current log leaders Kaizer Chiefs, SuperSport United, Mamelodi Sundowns and Platinum Stars.