Pitso’s priorities are titles, not promoting youngsters
MAMELODI Sundowns head coach Pitso Mosimane is on the prowl for an experienced central defender to replace Alje Schut, but has ruled out Kwanda Mngonyama, who was on loan at Maritzburg United last season, as a potential successor.
It now seems likely that the 21year-old defender will extend his stay at the Kwazulu-Natal club.
Seen as a logical choice to fill the big void left by Schut, Mngonyama has been growing in stature and even caught the eye of Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba, who included him in his Cosafa Cup squad this month. The youngster also scooped two individual awards at Maritzburg two weeks ago when he was voted player of the year as well as being considered to be the best by his peers.
However, these accolades have not convinced Mosimane, who flew out to Italy just over a week ago on a scouting mission and has also strongly hinted that Downs would be keen on Kaizer Chiefs skipper Tefu Mashamaite should the footballer of the year not renew his deal with the Glamour Boys.
“I will try promote young players at Sundowns, but it’s another level,” the coach said. “Kwanda was there and he is only 21, but these guys can’t get game time, so we have to loan them out to play.
“People always ask: ‘where are the young players at Sundowns?’. But we have [Kudakwashe] Mahachi, [Mulenga] Mukuka and Percy [Tau], Rashid [Sumaila] and Bongani Zungu, who we bought from AmaTuks when he was 19, by the way. But where are they going to play? Our philosophy is not the same as that of Ajax Cape Town.”
Mosimane pointed to the expectation to win trophies at Chloorkop as a stumbling block to opening the door for emerging talent.
“We praise clubs like Ajax, who reached a cup final against us and used 17- and 19-year-olds. But at Sundowns, you must get to the Champions League,” the coach said. “But would I have been praised if I had the same season as Ajax at Sundowns? No. People will say I should have done better because I have more resources. It’s a fact. We reached the MultiChoice Diski Challenge final with our young team, which shows there is a lot of young players and they are all under-19. But whose place are they going to take at Sundowns?”
Mosimane takes his cue from European powerhouses Arsenal, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United, who spend big money to recruit special talent and neglect their youth academies as a result. “I looked at the Chelsea starting lineup, guys like John Terry, Branislav Ivanovic and Didier Drogba. How old are those guys? And I said to myself ‘oh, Chelsea has an academy by the way’.
“Arsenal brings Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez, but have an academy. I only see top players. Ask me about the TP Mazembe academy. These guys have four Champions League titles and have played in the Fifa Club World Cup, but where is their academy? In South Africa we like to talk about academies, because it’s a good topic and it justifies why we have to promote, but who do you promote?”
Mosimane has only confirmed Mogakolodi Ngele and Keagan Dolly from Platinum Stars and Ajax respectively as his only new signings so far. But the Brazilians have also been closely monitoring Black Leopards marksman Siphelele Ntshangase during the recent promotion-relegation play-offs.
We praise clubs like Ajax, who use 17-year-olds. But at Sundowns you must get to the Champions League