Orlando Pirates star Deon Hotto believes teenager Relebohile Mofokeng is ready to move abroad at his current level.
Mofokeng, 19, has been one of the standout players for Pirates since the start of last season, and went on to win the DStv Premiership Young Player of the Year honour.
While he impressed with his silky skills, and attacking instincts, his last-minute goal in the 2-1 win over Mamelodi Sundowns in the Nedbank Cup final, which proved to be the last kick of the 2023/24 season, perfectly encapsulated his meteoric rise with the Buccaneers.
Mofokeng has subsequently been linked with several moves to Europe, and went on to make his senior South Africa national team debut in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers as Bafana Bafana beat Zimbabwe 3-1 in Bloemfontein.
“We as senior players, we will keep him grounded, keep his head in the game, his head must be on the prize, we try to help him to kick on where he left off and just to put in more effort, especially in the final third,” Hotto said.
“There’s times where we just need him to put the ball in the net, then he takes another touch and that’s where we come in and guide him to say, the first moment you get, try to finish it, just like the one he did in the final, one-two and then finish.
“For sure he is ready to go overseas, why not? He is… in my view I think he is ready, to be honest, when we went to Spain now you saw how he competed against Sevilla, against Granada, big teams, big names and he played as he was here in the PSL, so for me I thi k he is ready to be honest.”
Mofokeng has scored six goals, with seven assists in 40 games for the Soweto giants since earning promotion from the DStv Diski Challenge squad.
