Al Ahly coach Pitso Mosimane says that the Egyptian club were interested in Gaston Sirino long before he joined the African champions.
Speaking to the South African Football Journalists Association (Safja) in his first media interaction with South Africans since lifting the CAF Champions League with Al Ahly last month, the former Mamelodi Sundowns coach touched on a number of issues, one being Al Ahly’s interest in the Uruguayan midfielder.
Mosimane was joined in the chat by over 60 journalists from across South Africa, and in a candid and emotional interview, he discussed leaving Sundowns and the the whirlwind he was thrown into over the past few months.
It was also the first time he had spoken about Sirino, who is reportedly a big target for Al-Ahly.
“The Sirino issue, ja, look, all of you guys know, all of you know, Al Ahly has been asking about Sirino when I was at Mamelodi Sundowns, you know that it’s a fact,” Mosimane told the Safja members.
“It’s just a perception that I am the one who wants Sirino at Al Ahly. Because I am in the seat, I’m in the hot seat. It will always link to me. I am not angry with it because it looks like it’s me, no, it has been there, you know about it, you wrote about it.”
“When I was at Sundowns, I was the one who said to Sirino no,no, no, don’t go, stay here, stay here let’s win the second star and all that, I was the one. And before I came here, there was Sirino, Sirino. It’s still Sirino, they want him! They know him , because he played against them. So that’s why I stayed away from saying anything in South Africa, I haven’t said one word. It’s the first time I speak to you guys.”