Renowned South African agent Mike Makaab believes that his client, Orlando Pirates‘ Thalente Mbatha has capabilities to play abroad however needs to take his game to the next level to achieve that.
The 25-year-old has been an integral part of Pirates’ success in the recently concluded season where the side won the MTN8 trophy, finished second in the league and reached the semi-finals of the CAF Champions League and the final of the Nedbank Cup with Mbatha also breaking into the Bafana Bafana fold scoring two goals in four appearances.
The founder of Pro Sport International Agency revealed to iDiski Times senior journalist Lorenz Köhler in edition 208 of the newspaper that he’s had conversations about the player’s ambitions including going to Europe and what needs to happen for him to reach that.
“Yes, I do [believe he can play in Europe],” Makaab told iDiski Times.
“Thalente and myself spoke quite often this week, he’s with the national team as you know. He’s happy at Pirates, working hard. But he needs to work harder, we have spoken about that. If he wants to move to the next level and not be satisfied that you have taken the step and now being here, I have to maintain. What he has to do is take himself to the next level.
“There’s no doubt that if he does that, he is a player who can play in Europe; there’s no doubt in my mind. He’s got a great range of passing, an intelligent footballer, surprisingly covers a lot of ground, box to box, and he has a very good second-range shot.
“So, when you have players who can score goals from outside the area in tight games, sometimes that’s the difference. So, there’s no doubt he has the ability to play in Europe. But he needs to work a little harder to take his game to the next level, it’s something we have discussed.”
Did you know that the iDiski Times Digital Newspaper is completely free! Download it now by clicking the button below or fill in the form to have it sent to you every week.
