Sources in Portugal have confirmed that a Primeira Liga club has made an offer to Mamelodi Sundowns for their young winger, Kutlwano Letlhaku.
Letlhaku, a School of Excellence product before joining Sundowns’ academy, came to the fore under previous head coach Manqoba Mngqithi, who gave him his break in the Sundowns first team after starring in their DStv Diski Challenge squad.
His progress continued and he was a significant contributor to South Africa winning the recent U20 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, which also qualified the country for the U20 FIFA World Cup in Chile.
The 19-year-old also made a cameo appearance for Sundowns against Borussia Dortmund in the FIFA Club World Cup, where he made an impressive assist for Sundowns’ third goal, further confirmation of his potential. And it appears clubs in Portugal have sat up and taken notice – as Letlhaku stands on the brink of the next exciting chapter in his career.
A transfer to Portugal would represent another hugely positive step one of the emerging talents of the Premier Soccer League, and be a signal that South Africa is slowly but surely returning to the days of being able to export talents to the better leagues of Europe, as was the case in the 1990s when Lucas Radebe, Phil Masinga, Benni McCarthy, Quinton Fortune, Mark Fish, Sizwe Motaung, David Nyathi and Shaun Bartlett made their mark in the top-flight leagues of England, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Holland.
At the recent Club World Cup, Portuguese powerhouse club, SL Benfica, topped their group which included Bayern Munich and Boca Juniors before losing to eventual champions, Chelsea, in the knockout stages and the league has been a hotbed of promising talent for the elite clubs in global football.
When approached for comment, Centre Circle’s Director, Matthew Moore, who manage Letlhaku was reluctant to divulge details but did confirm that there has been an offer from Portugal.
“It isn’t widely known, but there were two [European club] offers for Kutlwano in the January window that Sundowns turned down. Then another offer for him from a Danish Superliga club last week, which again Sundowns turned down. And, yes, now an offer has been made to Sundowns from a club in the top league of Portugal,” he confirmed to iDiski Times.
While Moore did not want to be drawn on how the potential deal was progressing, he confirmed that his young charge was determined that this opportunity would not be allowed to pass.
“It’s natural, Kutlwano was hugely disappointed at missing out on three different opportunities previously to move to Europe, but he is now really excited and has made up his mind that he is determined to be allowed to take this opportunity for the next step in his career. He has put a request in writing to Sundowns to ask that they please conclude the transfer and allow him to go.”
Letlhaku’s teammate of the victorious U20 AFCON team, Tylon Smith, was also moved abroad by the same agency two weeks ago, who count amongst their clients legendary Bafana Bafana players like Benni McCarthy, Steven Pienaar, Sibusiso Zuma and Aaron Mokoena, as well as current Bafana midfielder Luke Le Roux, whom they also moved to English Championship club Portsmouth, within the past fortnight.
“As an agency we think – like Tylon Smith’s deal that we did with QPR – that this is a wonderful next step for the future development of Kutlwano and is a testimony to the great work that Sundowns is doing with their academy.
“We assume that Sundowns will see this for the great opportunity it is for Kutlwano and his family, and we hope that they agree this time to his departure and that he goes with their blessing.”
Letlhaku has featured 19 times for the Masandawana first team with three goals and six assists across all competitions since making his debut in March 2024 in the Nedbank Cup.
Story by Lorenz Kohler (@Lorenz_KO).
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