Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has hailed the mentality of Boitumelo Radiopane, offering a glowing impression of the emerging striker.
Radiopane, 23, has long been touted as a future star of the club, having been a prolific goal scorer in the reserve team after joining the club from the School of Excellence.
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He went on to spend two separate loans at Cape Town Spurs in the second tier, where he helped them win the league and in the top-flight when they were relegated.
But he made only two starts in 15 appearances last season after returning from the Urban Warriors before Ouaddou’s arrival gave him a new lease of life in pre-season and starting the first three games of the 2025/26 season, before his 10-minute cameo against Mamelodi Sundowns today.
But it’s come with a cost, as Tshegofatso Mabasa and Evidence Makgopa has missed out on a place in the starting XI, and with Radiopane not scoring, he’s come under criticism from the club’s supporters.
“This kind of player… it’s easy for a coach, he has a fantastic mentality, he is well educated as a player, as man, he is respectful – he’s a worker, so I’m lucky to have such players to train,” Ouaddou said Radiopane in the post-match press conference.
“He’s a professional, it means when we call him for duty, he doesn’t have any problem… to sit on the bench and then come on to give everything. I gave him 10 minutes, and I said, ‘son you have to score your goal’. And he nearly scored, he gave everything.
“This is the mentality a coach is looking for from his players and all my players, I’m really lucky with all the players I have at Pirates, they have fantastic mentality, it’s the one of the first dressing rooms I have seen such a great mentality of the players.”
He’s scored one goal with one assist in 22 appearances for the Pirates senior team since making his debut for the club in November 2021 as a teenager.
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