Orlando Pirates assistant coach Mandla Ncikazi has revealed that Jose Riveiro wanted to take Mbekezeli Mbokazi with him to Al Ahly.
The Spanish coach left the Buccaneers at the end of the previous season, ending a three-year successful stint that was marked by an impressive haul of five trophies for the club.
He went on to take the reins at the Club of the Century, leading them in the FIFA World Cup where they were eliminated in the group stages. After a poor start to the season, the North African giants sacked him.
Ncikazi, speaking on on Prime Time Sport with Victor Molefe on Ukhozi FM, revealed that Riveiro was keen on bringing the talented young center-back Mbekezeli Mbokazi along to Egypt.
“There’s a good thing that can’t be claimed by one person in our club, there’s a scouting department that’s doing a good job,” said Ncikazi as translated from IsiZulu.
“When you look at the TLB, Mbokazi. It’s scaring to see such a young boy at that age, who’s at that level now.
“Everyone is commending him, Jose wanted him in Egypt. And also we had a meeting with the Bafana coach Hugo Broos, he says this boy has to go play in Europe.”
Ncikazi went on to praise the Pirates scouting department for identifying unnoticed talent that fits the team’s style.
“It’s been a while since we had such a special talent at that age. But then we have a lot of talent at Pirates, the likes of [Simphiwe] Selepe that you haven’t seen this season, [Relebohile] Mofokeng who was also identified in a different way.
“Our club is doing an unusual, maybe other clubs will also learn. We got [Lebone] Seema where he was not even playing as a regular but look at where he is now, you can see our scouts have a sharp eye in identifying a talent that can fit into the team.”
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