Sundowns aim for Mobara
Planned Wits move for Abbubaker Mobara looks in tatters and champions Sundown may use the opportunity to solve their right-back problems.
Abbubaker Mobara is emerging as the preferred right-back option for champions Mamelodi Sundowns next season as a potential bidding war for his services looks at an end. Mobara had been due to move from Orlando Pirates to Bidvest Wits at the end of the season as part of a prearranged swap deal with Ben Motshwari and another player, still to be determined, heading in the other direction. But the move has been cancelled after a dispute over Wits’ contract offer, opening the way for Sundown to now come in and buy the player. TAB Sports Network Express has been told there have already been extensive talks about a possible move to Sundowns from the Buccaneers, where Mobara has played fleetingly over the last four months, allegedly because of injury, but also reportedly because of his impending move away from the club. The 24-year-old has one more year left on his contract at Pirates, who bought him from Ajax Cape Town in 2016. Sundowns have struggled to sort out the right-back role at the club even though they brought in former Bafana Bafana defender Anele Ngcongca at the start of the season. Ngcongca’s experience of playing in Belgium for a decade, including the group stages of the Champions League, was just what Sundowns were looking for in the position but he has not lived up to expectations and has been consistently sidelined through injury. Ngcongca could be released from his contract at Sundowns to return to Belgium, recent reports have suggested. Thapelo Morena has spent most of the season as Sundowns’ right-back, although his preferred position is further up the flank and he lacks adequate defensive skills for the tough matches that Sundowns expect to play. Motjeka Madisha and Asavela Mbekile have also been converted to right-back in cases of emergency and are not considered long-term solutions. Mobara is adept not only at right-back but also in the centre of defence and as a defensive midfielder, which he has previously said is his favoured position. Wits were only offering Mobara a contract of two years plus the option for another season, but the player’s agents are looking for a minimum four-year deal. “Why would you offer a 24-year-old player such a short deal? He is still young and looking for security in the profession,” said his agent Rob Moore.