Former Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has explained what really happened to Monnapule Saleng last season.
The 28-year-old winger spent most of last season out of the team and was recently loaned out to Orbit College. In Pirates’ docu-series, Giants, which aired on SuperSport TV on Sunday, Riveiro revealed why the Bafana Bafana attacker did not feature in his team during the second half of the 2024/25 season.
“The period of the season was weird, with Saleng. So he (Saleng) takes you to a weird space, where you start to speculate if he’s okay or not, if he really wants to play for the team, or not,” the former Orlando Pirates coach said.
“Because we know Saleng, we know what he’s capable of doing – always ready to play, always ready to train, always delivering incredible performances.”
Riveiro said Saleng showed a different attitude during the team’s 3-2 loss to Magesi FC in the Carling Knockout. He was replaced by Mohau Nkota at halftime.
“You could see that the boy is not happy; he’s just not himself. He’s not the guy enjoying every action, even if he has to run to defend 60m, he enjoys the action as well. And he wasn’t there, it was weird,” he added.
Riveiro on Orlando Pirates star Saleng
“I tried to concentrate on what’s coming for the ones who want to go to the field and fight for the team one more time, another 45 or 50 minutes, and not giving time or energy to that issue, even though it was not something really nice to see.”
Riveiro left Orlando Pirates in May to join Egyptian giants Al Ahly and has since been replaced by Abdeslam Ouaddou.
The new coach got off to a winning start this past weekend. The Buccaneers defeated Polokwane City 2-0 to reach the MTN8 semi-finals. New signing Oswin Appollis scored on his debut to become an instant fan favourite at Orlando.
The Orlando Pirates’ new signing played 60 minutes before he limped off. It appears he only suffered from cramps and will be available this coming weekend.
Will Saleng ever return to Pirates?
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