Sithole goes to Lisbon

Another KwaZulu-Natal Academy player, Sphepheto Sithole, is the latest youngster from the institution to make his way to Portugal, where he has joined Sporting Lisbon. The defender, who hails from Ulundi, was part of coach Molefi Ntseki’s (above) national Under-17 team that represented the country at the 2015 Fifa World Cup in Chile. The 18-year old Sithole who joined the KZN Academy at the age of 14 caught the eyes of the Portuguese club while competing at the Durban International Tournament earlier this year. He joins the likes of Thabo Cele, who also began his career with the KZN Academy and now plays for Benfica FC’s reserves.

Ndengane to stay with Celtic

A source at Bloemfontein Celtic has informed about Orlando Pirates’ interest in another Celtic midfielder in Alfred Ndengane (above). According to the source, Ndengane was supposed to make a switch along with former team-mate Musa Nyatama to Bucs, but the club was not keen on selling another of their key players to the Buccaneers. “Pirates wanted to sign him, but the club does not want to let him go. Look, Alfred is one of the key players at the club. It wouldn’t really make sense for us as a team to let him go having already lost Nyatama. We already have a lot of new players, but we needed to keep the core of the team,” said the source.

Phakaaathi Phakaaathi