Kaogelo Sekgota

The young winger has shown his impressive quality at Swallows FC this season after spending time away in Portugal.

In the short time that Kgaogelo Sekgota has played in the PSL for BidVest Wits and now Swallows FC, he has shown enough evidence of why he went to Europe as a teenager. Sekgota is a livewire winger who has been justifying why he has been linked with a move to Kaizer Chiefs since the turn of the year. KICK OFF’s Lovemore Moyo finds out more about the 23-year-old, who is set for a massive future in the game.

When Kaizer Chiefs’ transfer ban is lifted at the end of the season, Kgaogelo Sekgota is one of the players linked with a move to Naturena.

Sekgota is sitting on a deal that runs up until the end of June with Swallows FC and is expected to be among the players arriving at Naturena during the off-season.

Amakhosi have had little success with wide players of late and had no stand-out performer this past season with Philani Zulu, Lebogang Manyama and Dumisani Zuma not providing the width, pace and crosses.

The speed and flair with which

Sekgota plays might provide answers for coach Gavin Hunt, who has previously worked with the 23-yearold at BidVest Wits.

With the ball at his feet, Sekgota enjoys taking on players at pace down either wing, leaving many defenders behind in a blink of the eye.

Such was his brilliance that he didn’t need to play in any of the top two leagues in domestic football before he left for Europe as a teenager four years ago, when he went to join Stumbras in Lithuania.

“He will be the first to admit that when I first saw him in 2012, I told him that I will take him to Europe because I had already taken notice of the potential that he had,” reveals his agent Bally Smart, who snapped him up during trials in 2012.

Smart also doubles up as director at the ABC Motsepe League franchise Polokwane United.

While the number of Sekgota admirers locally is only just increasing now that he has been playing in the PSL for the past year with Wits and Swallows, the writing was always on the wall that he would turn into a hit.

“We pushed him into the ABC Motsepe League team when he was 17. We struggled that season because we were using all our Under-17 and Under-19 players. He just made the progression upwards and when we

went to the Bayhill Cup in 2015, he scored the only goal when we played against Ajax Cape Town.

“He got the ball at the halfway line and dribbled past a number of players, including the goalkeeper, and put it in the net. That is when it was confirmed to some that he was really a gem,” Smart recalls.

‘When you are determined to succeed it is never a problem’

Playing for a team that wasn’t of interest to scouts at the Bayhill Cup meant that Sekgota went unnoticed, but had a bigger plan already set out.

For Smart the mission was to get Sekgota into Europe as soon as possible, instead of sending him into the domestic game. When he was 19, he left South Africa before anyone could notice him.

“Having played in Europe myself, I still have my contacts and I made some calls and told them I have this talented boy who I feel deserves a trial at least. An ex-coach of mine who is Portuguese [Luis Rodrigues] was

“HE GOT THE BALL AT THE HALFWAY LINE AND DRIBBLED PAST A NUMBER OF PLAYERS, INCLUDING THE GOALKEEPER, AND PUT IT IN THE NET.”

working under another coach, Mariano Barreto, at Stumbras. I took ‘Kigi’ [Sekgota] there in March 2017 when it was ice cold, but he impressed and within a couple of months he was in the first team. “When you are determined to succeed it is never a problem to go to a foreign environment to show what you can do. I prepared him well because he lived at my house for a good year to learn about mentality and change of culture before we took him over to Europe. “He was well prepared, and it wasn’t a struggle for him at all even though he needed time to adjust since this was his

first time in Europe. It really helped that he was well prepared,” says Smart, a former youth international.

A great showing for Stumbras in the only full season that he spent there meant the stage provided by Lithuania had shrunk into one that couldn’t accommodate him.

At the time Stumbras were struggling in financial crisis before ultimately sinking and then Portuguese top-flight club Vitoria Setubal became his next port of call, even though it ultimately didn’t work out.

“There were several offers for him from France, Kazakhstan, Cyprus and Russia. Initially there was interest from big Portuguese clubs, but

FC Stumbras rejected all the offers because they were holding out for a massive deal since they could already see the potential.

“They tried to hold out but ultimately we had to step in and told them that the boy needs to play on a bigger stage.

It was a back and forth exchange, but we eventually got him out of the contract at Stumbras. At the time Setubal were looking for a winger and when they saw his games, they were impressed.

“There were a few coaching changes at Setubal while he was there with the coach that signed him leaving after a few months. The coach who took over gave him his debut against FC Porto, but there was a lot of politics and interference.

“We felt that he needs to be playing regularly so that is why the move to Wits then came up. Truth is that a lot of people don’t understand how tough it is in Europe where the demands are not the same as here.

“A lot of our players lack the mental strength to go to an eastern Europe country, make a name there and then make a move to a bigger league in the south and west of Europe. If you are determined to make it then it is possible.

“The mistake that we make is to undermine some leagues without so much information, yet they attract decent players because of the money they pay,” says Smart.

A homecoming

With Setubal facing their own tro troubles, financial and on the field, it soon dawned on Sekgota that this wouldn’t be the place for him for long. Six first team appearances and more in the club’s Under-23 team was not what would give him joy, and his situation was complicated after his mother fell ill back home.

He needed to play with

the national selectors having now taken notice of him and called him up for the 2019

COSAFA Cup, where he made an appearance for South Africa in the Plate semi-final against Uganda.

To those that had close interaction with him in Portugal, they knew how good he was. w

“In one-versus-one situations he is probably the best player that I have been teammatest with in all my career, including when w I was at Porto,” says veteran striker Zequinha, who was once on the books of FC Porto and has also played in Greece and India.

Zequinha shared the dressing room withw Sekgota at Setubal, where he remains despite the club’s demotion to the thirdtier of Portuguese football due to administrative irregularities.

“I am serious about that, he is the best on one-versus-one from those that I played with because I saw how he destroyed everything when he played. He has good technique and is blessed with speed.

“As a striker he is the kind of winger that you want to play with because he will feed you with a lot of assists. At Setubal he didn’t play a lot

“THERE WERE SEVERAL OFFERS FOR HIM FROM FRANCE, KAZAKHSTAN, CYPRUS AND RUSSIA.”

because he was a young player who came to our team when we were not doing well in the Primeira Liga, so the coach preferred to use experienced players.

“I believe that Kigi would have come good here in Portugal and played more games if the team had been doing well. Whenever he played in the Under-23 league, he was much better than all the other players.

“He is a good player who always wants to learn and was never shy to ask the experienced players when he needed help about anything. Some of the younger players never want to listen but that was never the case with Kigi because at training he listened and asked many questions when he didn’t understand.

“He is a very good guy to have in the dressing room and always has positive energy even when he is not playing. I am glad that he is now doing well in South Africa because he is quality.

“I heard about the South African League from Luis Boa Morte, who I played with in

Greece and I know Benni McCarthy because I followed him at Porto, where he is a God. Jucie Lupeta is also my friend.

“That it didn’t work out for him in Portugal doesn’t make him a bad player at all. I speak good of Kigi, not because he is my friend, but because I know his qualities,” Zequinha says.

‘He was also homesick’

Come January last year he was loaned to BidVest Wits before then joining Swallows on a deal running up to the end of June.

“We found out that the boy wanted to come back and Roy [Limongelli] went to watch him play before we took him, and we got great feedback,” says George Mogotsi, who was the general manager at Wits before the club was sold.

“We were helped by the fact that the club had already sent a few boys to Portugal before so there were some links that also helped us get to know about other local boys there. Being a boy from Limpopo I think he was also homesick and when he got here, he just fitted in. In his training sessions you could see that this is the real deal.

“He is a boy who always listens when spoken to. The boy has something special and just needs to get into the grove of the PSL. He will set the PSL alight. He will play in the national team as well because there is no one who has what he has.

“I used to encourage him to be brave and not be afraid of anybody but play the football that he knows and use his skills to eliminate opponents. His character is what will also help him because when it was time for work, he was up for the challenge and would always be found where he was staying. He never ever gave us any problems [off the pitch],” points out Mogotsi.

For now, while domestic football sits up and takes notice of Sekgota, his former teammate in Lithuania has long seen it.

Jaisen Clifford – now at Cape Town All Stars – was at Stumbras as well and also played in Portugal before returning to South Africa.

“It is a different space there because countries in Europe are developed and they have the facilities, which makes it easier for clubs there to provide a window, which is why Kigi ended up in Portugal.

“It is a growing league helped by the fact that it is close to Russia and Ukraine, where the money is good. The level of the game in Lithuania is tactical and they appreciate skills with a sense of direction.

“If you have the ball and have the chance to put a forward pass and put a teammate in a good position, but then decide to stop and stand on the ball, then they will not appreciate it.

“They care more about winning than anything else. As South African players it is in us to play with a bit of ‘sugar’ but then beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

“I know that here in South Africa we are dismissive of Lithuania because we don’t know a thing about them, just like they don’t know a thing about us. It was a coincidence that we both had similar paths but Stumbras was a selling club in the top league in Lithuania.

“It was a project that worked around bringing in players to train them and then sell them off. When we got there, we won a cup and took the club to the Europa League,” says Clifford.

With the right ground in place, the expectation will now be that Sekgota pushes on with his career and that could mean his next move is the most important.

“IN ONE-VERSUS-ONE SITUATIONS HE IS PROBABLY THE BEST PLAYER THAT I HAVE BEEN TEAMMATES WITH IN ALL MY CAREER.”