SuperSport United CEO, Stan Matthews has revealed the reasoning for their decision to allow Bafana Bafana midfielder Teboho Mokoena to join Mamelodi Sundowns midway through the season.
The battle for Mokoena’s signature came to an end after the midfielder signed a three-and-a-half year deal with an option to extend by a year with Sundowns on Thursday.
Mokoena was linked with Kaizer Chiefs and RSC Anderlecht, amongst others, while he was at SuperSport United – however, Matthews has explained Masandawana had wanted the player for a long time.
“Teboho is a player who’s been attracting a lot of speculation for some time. Sundowns have been suitors consistently, for a long, long time,” Matthews told Thomas Mlambo on the Ultimate Sports Show.
“I probably met with their former president, Mr. Motsepe, about Teboho four years back, and I had to try to fend him off at that time and explained to him that Teboho still had a path to run with us.
“And we had expectations as a club of what we wanted him to achieve with us in terms of trophies and performance and establishing himself in a more solid footing, not just that we were going to transfer him when he has still a lot of potential, but more potential than reality.
“So we felt that we still had a lot of value to unlock in Teboho. And that’s been the case here, we’ve won three trophies recently with him, and he’s become a rock in the center of midfield, when we had a midfield filled with experience like Yeye, Dove Wome, Cole Alexander and Dean Furman, he was breaking through into that.
“And when we never renewed with Yeye, a lot of the media came hard why didn’t you extend Yeye’s contract, etc, etc. And I was very clear at the time that we didn’t want any blockages in the pathway of Teboho, and he’s gone on to prove us right.”
Matthews further explained that Mokoena always showed the right attitude and never pushed for a move, which made the decision to let him go in mid-season easier.
“He’s been a fantastic asset to the football club, a model footballer, a great work ethic, a humble young man who just contributes to his community, to his club, with humility and with commitment and dedication,” he added.
“And he’s just a fantastic role model for young footballers to look and see loyalty, he came to us as a young kid, in his mid-teens. He’s had many suitors, the big three have all being admirers of him, and at some point shown an interest in him.
“He never showed a bad attitude. He never tried to force a move, he never tried to come to us and play up before his time. He really showed an incredible mature attitude to his career. And now he deserves this big, big move that he’s got that will secure him and his family, way, way beyond his playing days, and I’m super, super delighted for him as a human being.”
