Orlando Pirates attacker Relebohile Mofokeng is one of the most-talked about players in South Africa right now.
And it’s thanks to the Buccaneers for affording him the opportunity to shine at the highest level of the country’s football.
However, things could have been different had their youth development scouts and coaches slept on duty.
This is because Mofokeng could have easily opted to join Mamelodi Sundowns instead of Pirates some years ago.
According to former Pirates youth coach Mandla Qhogi, Mofokeng had attracted huge interest from two other PSL clubs.
At the time, the now 20-year-old was at the Transnet School of Excellence, and those clubs were Sundowns and Sekhukhune United.
Sundowns were Pirates’ strongest contenders of the two clubs after tabling an enticing offer to lure Mofokeng.
The offer, at least according to Qhogi, was far more than what Pirates had offered the football school for the services of Mofokeng.
However, ‘Rele‘ had already made up his mind about joining and playing for the Sea Robbers despite the enticing Sundowns offer.
HOW ‘RELE’ MOFOKENG CHOSE PIRATES OVER SUNDOWNS
“I saw Rele playing a tournament, not knowing he belonged to the School of Excellence,” said Qhogi in an interview with FARPost.
“I made a follow-up after that tournament, I [found out]. Then, the School of Excellence came to play the Pirates Cup. Then, that’s where the management of the cup also saw him.
“And we still had to follow up; we didn’t sign him immediately after the Pirates Cup. We followed him even when he played in the Engen Tournament because there were too many teams then [that were] after him, and we had to accelerate the process of signing him.
“We first went to the School of Excellence to discuss with them. They gave us the go-ahead to negotiate with the parents. We went to the parents; they were happy to give Rele to us.
“Then we went to the School of Excellence and told them the parents were happy. And the club took over from there, signing him.
“I was told Sekhukhune [United] were after him but the main one was [Mamelodi] Sundowns, they even offered a huge amount to the School of Excellence, I won’t mention it. But that was after we had signed Rele.”
