Palacios urges Pirates to sign Mabena
‘ He knows club culture and deserves a chance’
On top of the six tried and tested strikers Orlando Pirates have, the club’s former coach Augusto Palacios supports the idea of signing Ndumiso Mabena.
Mabena, 35, has been training with Pirates for almost two months now and is expected to sign a contract with the club before DStv Premiership action resumes late next month after the World Cup in Qatar.
As Pirates already have six experienced marksmen in Kermit Erasmus, Zakhele Lepasa, Bienvenu Eva Nga, Kwame Peprah, Evidence Makgopa and Terrence Dzvukamanja on their roaster, it would be easy to say they don’t necessarily need Mabena.
However, Palacios, who coached Mabena in the past at Pirates, is advocating for the return of the striker, more so that Nga, Peprah, Makgopa and Dzvukamanja have been struggling to stamp their authority in the team.
Palacios was Pirates’ interim for two spells with his first stint from March to August in 2012, while his second was from November 2016 to February of the following year. On the other hand, Mabena was a Bucs player between 2009 and 2014.
“When a good striker is available you must always use that chance. Mabena is a top player... very experienced, so if Pirates have a chance to sign him why not? He knows the culture of the club and he’s talented, so I don’t see why he must not be given another chance,” Palacios told Sowetan on the sidelines of Stix Morewa Soccer Challenge launch in Soweto last week.
“He will improve other strikers by challenging them. For me, age is just a number. In football talent and ability should count more than age.”
What also fuelled rumours that Mabena was close to putting pen to paper at the Soweto giants is that he was part of their MTN8 triumph celebrations in Durban last Saturday. The lad from Groblersdal in Limpopo started to train with Pirates as soon as Royal AM gave him his clearance after he had taken the KZN club to PSL’s dispute resolution chamber (DRC) for trying to auction him off to Swallows when he still had a year remaining in his contract.