Philadelphia Union defender Olwethu Makhanya admits that he considered a loan move away from the club due to lack of game time.
Makhanya, who is now pleased that he stuck out his waiting period, joined Union from Stellenbosch FC in 2023 and is only featuring for the side’s first team in this current campaign under a new coach.
The 20-year-old has played five out of six games for his side this season as they find themselves in second position in the Eastern Conference log with 12 points. Makhanya’s move was around the same time as that one of Cassius Mailula who went to Toronto FC which a few months after Njabulo Blom had joined St Louis City.
Mailula and Blom have since returned to Africa on loan spells at Wydad and Kaizer Chiefs respectively.
Makhanya admitted to iDiski Times writer Lethabo Kganyago in edition 198 of the newspaper that he too considered going to get game time elsewhere but for him he looked at Europe.
“Obviously after the last season where I did not play a single game, but I always felt as if I should be playing,” Makhanya told iDiski Times.
“So that really got to me, and I started having conversations with the people that I work with. Maybe I just need to go get some minutes or go on loan. I always felt as if, because the team wasn’t really doing well last season and still, I wasn’t used.
“So, I felt as if, nah, you know what, maybe I need to go try somewhere else but I never, not once, felt as if I did not deserve or belong in the league.
“I always felt as if I could play. It’s just that I wasn’t given the opportunity. Nah, nah, I wasn’t going to come back home. I was going to go somewhere to Europe, like Denmark maybe, because I had already been negotiating with teams in the Denmark league.”
