Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has opened up on promoting teenager Relebohile Mofokeng and the emerging talents within the squad.
Mofokeng, previously known as Ratomo when he made his professional debut last season but has since switched his surname, featured in both their opening league games of the 2023/24 season.
He started in the 4-2 win over Royal AM and caught the eye of onlookers with his technical ability, pace and the way in which he eased past his markers at will, and Riveiro admits alongside the likes of Patrick Mswanganyi and Monnapule Saleng, it’s an exciting prospect.
“In general, it’s a challenge, the tactical part of the process, it is… especially with youngsters, they come with habits, not good, not bad, just habits,” Riveiro said when asked about developing young talents like Mofokeng tactically.
“If youngsters like Rele’ make it to play for Pirates it means he’s coming from one environment and maybe for two seasons where he was really superior, he was showing superiority almost in every game with 16 and 17-year-olds, that is the difficult step.
“Usually when they arrive in professional football in a league where nothing is for free, to understand the different moments of the game, to understand being on the ball is not enough, you have to contribute when you’re not on the ball. The tempo is higher.
“In development, you have two seconds to make a decision, in this league, you have one if you go to the next step you will have half a second and so on… At the same time, it’s the nice part of a process to see the players evolve in that sense.”
The Spaniard who was part of the Celta Vigo Academy as a coach admits that developing any player becomes easy, when they see progress and are willing to be coached – which is something he feels is brewing within his squad this season.
“In the end, the player, it doesn’t matter what position, where he’s coming from… if the player feels you can help him? It’s easy,” Riveiro explained about the potential growth of the young talent within the squad.
“If the player feels you’re not helping him [develop] much, then it becomes difficult, all players are smart… at least in football. I’m trying to say what players want from coaches, you can help them to be better, you can help them to win.
“That is the key to the relationship, so if they feel I can help, it’s easy, if not it’s difficult and it doesn’t matter if they were 16, 25 or 30 – but it’s nice to work with them because they have the [technical] quality, so whatever you ask them to do, they can execute it and that’s amazing.”
