Some signings were a miss from Chiefs…

With only five rounds of league fixtures to go, it is time to look back on the season that was and I’d like for us to have a look at different teams’ recruitments and how they fared. Did they make any impact or were they just ordinary signings?

It looks like most new signings excelled in their new teams this season, although there will always be those who, unfortunately, didn’t have much of an impact. Let me start with the team that we can all agree that they have excelled, so far this season, at both local and continental level and I’m talking about the log leaders, Mamelodi Sundowns. They have proved to be an unstoppable outfit and their 6-0 drubbing of Golden Arrows speaks volumes. I think it is safe to say they are home and dry. It is now up to Kaizer Chiefs and Royal AM, as things stand, to decide who will finish second, which is a story for another day. Let’s stay focused on the issue at hand here. Sundowns signed a couple of players, but we are only going to mention a few. Let’s look at Surprise Ralani, which was one of the eyebrow-raising signings in a long time. To most people, it was a case of, “What on earth are Sundowns doing, signing a 34-year-old?”, but if you listened attentively to what coach Rhulani Mokwena said about bringing Ralani onboard, you’d understand. He said the signing of the former Cape Town City skillful player was not just for local games as they needed the kind of a player who can dribble going forward for both domestic and continental games. Within the PSL, Ralani is the only player who does that and it goes to show that they did their homework and knew exactly what they were doing. That’s why they gave him an 18-month contract, which, I’m sure, will be extended because everything is working according to plan so far.

Ralani is actually showing us had he gone to Sundowns earlier, with all due respect to all the teams he’s played for, he would have been something else today. We’d be talking a completely different player today because he continues to improve and excel. When you look at the acquisition of Teboho Mokoena, whenever Sundowns play a low-block team, those who are sitting deep, and struggling to penetrate them, they need someone with a Hlompho Kekana type of shooting range. Someone who will strike the ball from a distance so that he can either contribute in setpieces or with individual brilliance and game-changing moments like Kekana used to do. Mokoena scored a* cracker from a distance in Sudan, recently, and that was not the

first time he’s found the back of the net for Downs, while keeping things tight in the midfield, in his short time at Chloorkop.

Sundowns also have a player like George Maluleka, who has been there but hardly got a look into. He was recently given a chance and what happened? He’s been scoring and instrumental in assisting as well. You ask yourself, “What are Sundowns doing in order to make their players tick whenever they are given a chance?” Anyway, that’s not what this week’s column is about. Let’s look at Cape Town City, who signed Portuguese-Angolan international goalkeeper Hugo Marques ahead of the start of the season, following their number one goalkeeper Peter Leeuwenburgh’s departure and injury to another new signing, Darren Keet, and I don’t have to remind anyone about Marques’ exploits between the sticks for coach Eric Tinkler’s charges. They also signed young Khanyisa Mayo from GladAfrica Championship side Richards Bay FC and the boy has been unbelievable this season. He’s one of the deadly young strikers in the elite league and he is another great signing.

You then look at Royal AM, who bought Bloemfontein Celtic’s status and finalised everything literally on the eve of the new season. We all thought they’d be fighting relegation by now, but they’ve proven us wrong. They kept the same team for most of the season until they released some of them a few months ago. Victor Letsoalo is technically not new, but under the circumstances, this is a completely new team, but he’s proved to be among the best strikers we have in the country. He is only second to Peter Shalulile and is in the Bafana Bafana set-up because of the great work he’s been doing for coach John Maduka’s side. Mxolisi Macuphu joined AM from TS Galaxy and became a hit. You also throw in Thabo Matlaba’s name to the list because he’s brought a lot of experience and stability to the team. These players seem to have found a new lease at their new homes and I’m not saying they were not doing well at their previous clubs. I don’t want to talk about all the PSL teams and what they’ve done in the transfer market, but I have just decided to mention those that really caught my eye.

These are players that are making a difference in their new teams and making sure that they improve the competition among their peers. That, ultimately, stands to benefit the club because when top quality comes in, it affects and improves everyone around.

Now let’s look at Kaizer Chiefs. They brought in Keagan Dolly, Phathutshedzo Nange, Austin Dube, Njabulo Ngcobo, Sibusiso Mabiliso, Cole Alexander, Sifiso Hlanti and Brandon Petersen, to mention just a few. You can run the rule over individual players and how they have performed so far this season and, like I said, this is not about disrespecting players or clubs but a simple holistic look at how players who were brought into a new structure have performed. It has been a rollercoaster season for some players because some of them came with high expectations, only to seem to struggle to acclimatize to get the team where it is supposed to be. If we are being honest, it looks like some signings were a miss from Chiefs’ side because they were supposed to put up a strong fight against Sundowns for the number one spot. We expected to see them return to being a top and dominant team that we know them to be. Yes, things didn’t turn out the way a lot of people expected for Chiefs, but in the bigger scheme of things, being fourth on the log may not be such a bad thing. With the players they assembled, there was an expectation to have a better season than they’ve had.