Mamelodi Sundowns co-head coach Rulani Mokwena says they have brought in Thabiso Kutumela from Maritzburg because they see him as their new Nr. 10.
Kutumela joined after a very good season for Maritzburg United in the DStv Premiership.
Mokwena is happy to have the player on board, and says while he can play in many positions, they see him ideally as a number 10.
“Well, Kutumela, the good thing for me personally, is that I know the boy, I know the boy very, very well. I know his mentality, his outlook on life, and the way he looks at football and how football plays a role in his own life,” Mokwena told the club’s media department.
“The boy’s extremely passionate about the game, he makes a lot of sacrifices for football. He’s a boy that we’re very excited to have brought in, because he is a profile of a player that we don’t have.
“Tactically Kutumela allows us a lot more options within our front line. Because he can play as a nine, he can play as a 10, which I think is probably his best position. And he can play on the left and on the right. We saw it at Maritzburg he was even deployed in certain moments, some games, on the on the left, or the right wing, so he can do the job there because he’s got a very good profile that allows him to be adaptive to different positions, and the demands of those positions.
“But for us, we brought him in as a number 10. We felt that we didn’t have a 10 that can play as a nine when we are attacking, and maybe even as an eight when we’re without possession of the ball, and Kutumela’s ability to not just find and navigate space, allows him to be that sort of 10 that can utilize bases created by a lot of the movement of our center forwards.
“But also in the certain moment, you can rely on his high energy levels and extremely tenacious work ethic off the ball to assist with your pressing schemes, and his ability to reinforce and overload the midfield.
“So we’re excited about him and we know what he does not only give us in open play, both in defence and attack, but he also gives us the quality that we needed in setpiece situations.
“So we are very happy with the addition of Kutumela and his ability to create and score goals for us will come in very handy.”
