South African veteran coach Pitso Mosimane has shared his thoughts on Bafana Bafana attacker Relebohile Mofokeng’s move to Belgium.
Mofokeng recently signed for Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, who finished second in the Belgian Pro League last season and qualified for the UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds.
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The 21-year-old left Orlando Pirates after spending three seasons with the Buccaneers, during which he established himself as a key player under both Jose Riveiro and Abdeslam Ouaddou.
Mofokeng secured his move to Union Saint-Gilloise after an impressive campaign in South Africa, and Mosimane believes the Belgian club is the ideal destination to launch his European career.
Mosimane cited the example of Percy Tau, who used Belgium as a stepping stone to the highest level. He also pointed to Belgian stars such as Romelu Lukaku, Youri Tielemans and Kevin De Bruyne, who developed in their home league before becoming global stars.
“Countries like Belgium where Rele has gone, that’s where Percy [Tau] came,” said Pitso on Smash Sports’ Changing The Game with Pitso Mosimane.
“Percy played there, started there. Belgium has launched a lot of players and gave them opportunities to go to big leagues.
“Even themselves, the Lukakus, Kevin De Bruyne, [Youri] Tielemans. You have to play in Belgium to do that, Belgium is also friendly to our Africans, the rules are much better.
“It’s not like in England where you have to have 70% caps for the last two years or a year. I don’t how that criteria is for now. So, it’s not easy to get to those players.
“Countries like Cyprus, Pafos plays Champions League. I think Omonia just won the league there. Pafos went into the last 16 of Champions League [last season].
“That’s where [Thapelo] Maseko, who scored against South Korea, is playing in Cyprus. Probably an easy route for us South Africans to go to Europe is in those countries. We need more players in Europe.”
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