Orlando Pirates’ rising star, Relebohile Mofokeng, has impressed over the past two seasons, capturing the attention of the South African football community and sparking interest from Spanish La Liga giants, Barcelona.
Over the past two weeks, several media houses have reported that Barcelona are keeping a close eye on the youngster and that Hansi Flick is keen to have him join his star-studded squad including the likes of Lamine Yamal, Pedri, Raphinha, Fermin Lopez and Frenkie de Jong to name a few.
Despite this, South African football legend Benni McCarthy has cautioned against the move, arguing that Mofokeng may struggle to secure a regular spot in the starting lineup.
McCarthy had an illustrious career abroad and is considered one of the most decorated South African footballers to ever play in Europe. He was instrumental in FC Porto securing the UEFA Champions League trophy in 2004 under the guidance of Jose Mourinho.
“I think he needs to play, not go to a country where to adapt and no he needs to play so I think a Portuguese League would be good, La Liga, teams that way where he’s going to play and not sit on the bench,” he said while speaking to football journalist Mahlatse Mphahlele.
The former Manchester United coach feels that a move to Spain would be good for Mofokeng, but he would struggle for game time if he moved to a big team like Real Madrid or Barca.
“La Liga would suit him very nicely. He is not going to play there [Barcelona or Real Madrid], he must go to a place like [RCD] Mallorca, Athletic Bilbao; Nico Williams. He must be in those kinds of teams Celta Vigo would be a nice team for him as well, Espanyol, just a place where his talent is not be wasted.
“France might be also a good place for him because of the climate at least there’s sunshine like South Africa. I think Portugal, Spain and France,” the coach continued.
The 47-year-old feels that the youngster would experience a great deal of problems if he were to move to England highlighting that coaches would struggle to understand his playing style.
“Maybe one day if I coach in England and he’s still young enough I’ll take him. A coach must understand… You need a coach who understands you and knows ‘I what am I looking out of what am I looking to get out of this player’ then you play other than that difficult,” he concluded.