HERMAN GIBBS
Orlando Pirates and Cape Town City’s aggressive recruitment continued unabated after they announced more signings in the wake of their recent acquisitions.
Pirates have announced the signing of highly-rated Angolan winger Delvi Miguel Vieira, the 23-year-old popularly known as Gilberto. He joined on a three-year deal from Angolan champions Petro du Luanda, where he spent two seasons.
It is likely Gilberto, who helped Angola reach the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals in Ivory Coast earlier this year, will accompany Pirates for their pre-season tour to Spain next week.
Speculation is rife that Pirates’ shopping list includes Selaelo Rasebotja from SuperSport United, Orbit College’s exciting attacker Thuso Moleleki and performance analyst Devon O’Brien from Stellenbosch FC.
Tzaneen United FC, the Limpopo ABC Motsepe League side, have taken leave of their prized midfielder Lefa “Toy” Aphane, who has joined Cape Town City. Earlier this year, the 23-year-old Aphane had a trial with City, and during that time, he did enough to convince coach Eric Tinkler that he would be a valuable acquisition.
“Lefa is a young, promising player and I think he has a great future ahead of him,” said Tinkler.
“Finding him the way we did was a miracle and with hard work from his side, he’ll become an exceptional footballer.”
On Saturday, City also announced that Elson Ayanda Sithole has agreed to professional terms with the club. The 23-year-old goalkeeper joins the Citizens from Magesi FC, last season’s Motsepe Foundation Championship side, who were promoted to the Premiership.
Sithole made just three appearances for Clinton Larsen’s charges last season.
The lack of moves in the Premiership has reduced the amount of transfer activity ahead of the official opening of the PSL transfer window on July 1.
However, SuperSport United have off-loaded one of South Africa’s finest youth talents, the 18-year-old Shandre Campbell, who is on his way to Belgian giants Club Brugge.
The plan is to ease Campbell into European football by fielding him in Club NXT FC, the youth academy team of Club Brugge. Club NXT compete in the Challenger Pro League, the second division of Belgian football.
SuperSport United CEO Stanley Matthews said: “While Shandre’s departure is a loss for us, we are committed to ensuring continuity and excellence within our squad. We are actively pursuing new talents to strengthen our team.”
Another Bafana Bafana player who will not grace the PSL scene next season despite being the target of Soweto giants Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs is Luther Singh.
The Soweto-born striker has moved from Serbian club Čukarički to AEL Limassol, the Cypriot outfit.
Former Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates midfielder Andile Jali, who has about 250 Premiership caps, has kept fans guessing about his future movement. A few weeks ago, his management said the 34-year-old had joined an unnamed club.
Latest reports say he has joined Chippa United, whose boss is the most trigger-happy of all PSL owners. Jali’s hordes of fans have already started guessing when Siviwe “Chippa” Mpengesi will give him the boot.
Yesterday, Sekhukhune United named well-travelled Peter Hyballa as their new head coach. The 48-year-old Hyballa was until most recently the head coach of Eerste Divisie club NAC Breda. He coached clubs in Germany, Namibia, Austria, the Netherlands, Poland, Denmark and Slovakia.