Kaizer Chiefs legend Siyabonga Nomvethe, who also played for Orlando Pirates, is the latest football stakeholder to opine on who between Bucs' youngster Relebohile Mofokeng and Mamelodi Sundowns star Lucas Ribeiro should win the Player of the Season Award.
Ribeiro has won the Golden Boot after scoring 16 goals, a figure that Mofokeng, who scored just five league goals with seven assists, can't match.
Masandawana went all the way to win the Premier Soccer League for the eighth time in a row, as Bucs finished second, yet again, for the third consecutive season. Despite all stats favouring Ribeiro, Nomvethe has explained why he feels Mofokeng should be rewarded for what he achieved for the Buccaneers.
“It has to be a competition between the young boy Relebohile Mofokeng and the Brazilian [Lucas] Ribeiro,” he told iDiski Times.
‘Mofokeng will encourage youngsters'
“I personally would give it to Mofokeng. For someone as young as he is to be as influential at a club as big as Pirates is a big deal. The young boy gave everything on the field – he deserves to win this award. He gave top class performances all the way. Ja, he did not score a lot of goals, but he is not an outright striker, and no player will score all the time.’
“Yet he still scored the important ones, and he made lots of crucial assists. I believe what he did this season is going to serve as encouragement for many young players to start believing in themselves and for the coaches to realise that age is just a number.
“Ribeiro would be my number two because he has really performed well; he scored goals and assisted, and his performances were always top; he had an outstanding season,” Nomvethe concluded.
The 20-year-old has been heavily linked with a move out of the club, with several teams in Europe chasing his services.
