Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro refused to take full credit for the club's influx of academy products in recent months.
In the game against Cape Town City last weekend, Relebohile Mofokeng and Mohau Nkota played a huge role, with Siyabonga Ndlozi also playing a role. The 19-year-old Mbekezeli Mbokazi, who is the reserve team captain, was on the bench.
Coach Riveiro is delighted with the impact the youngsters from the academy are having, which he says is a clear vision of the club's ambition and strategy. He believes it can help the team financially since it will stop them from paying a lot for players they need.
Riveiro has further stated credit should not go to him since he is just aligning himself with what the club is working on.
Pirates have a clear vision – Riveiro
“No, I think it’s a mistake [to say that], it would be nice to say it’s about me giving opportunities, or that I’m the brave one. I think we have to give value to the whole club for good scouting in the early stages to have good players in our DDC, then give them the proper platform to showcase their talent, have good communication with different departments in the club,” he stated.
“It's about finding the right moments for them, the right timing; this is my third season here, and every season we try to create that space for them, Rele is a clear example but there’s many more that will come in the future.
“It’s not about Riveiro, it’s about the club having a clear vision of the team that they want to have in the future; and the way the talent, one of the talent pools for the club is, so we don’t always have to go to the market when we have the right player, the right profile already.
“At the end of the day, every player is coming from an academy, not a different planet and suddenly playing here, just a different academy, we are all coming from academies, and sometimes we look at our own academies like it’s a high risk, I don’t think so,” Riveiro concluded.
It is interesting to see the role the youngster will play in the near future.
