Former Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has provided an insight into the problems around winger Monnapule Saleng, who was frozen out of the squad last season.
Saleng was a surprise omission from the squad from November 2024, having started the club’s first five matches of the season, with his last competitive outing for the Buccaneers being last December.
No explanation was given over what was going on around the situation with speculation rife that the player was not happy with the terms of his contract as he was seeking a pay rise.
However, in the second episode of Pirates’ docu-series, Giants, which aired on SuperSport TV on Sunday, Riveiro gives details of Saleng’s problems which point to the fact that the player was not in the right state of mind.
What was wrong with Saleng last season?
“The period of the season was weird, with Saleng. So he (Saleng) takes you to a weird space, where you start to speculate if he’s okay or not, if he really wants to play for the team, or not,” Riveiro said.
“Because we know Saleng, we know what he’s capable of doing – always ready to play, always ready to train, always delivering incredible performances.”
Riveiro was particularly taken aback by Saleng’s attitude during their 3-2 loss to Magesi FC in the Carling Knockout, when they went 3-0 down in the first half, before the winger was replaced at halftime by Mohau Nkota.
“You could see that the boy is not happy; he’s just not himself. He’s not the guy enjoying every action, even if he has to run to defend 60m, he enjoys the action as well. And he wasn’t there, it was weird,” he added.
Winger gives vague response over his issues
“I tried to concentrate on what’s coming for the ones who want to go to the field and fight for the team one more time, another 45 or 50 minutes, and not giving time or energy to that issue, even though it was not something really nice to see.”
Asked what could be wrong with him, Saleng gave a vague response that left many questions than answers.
“What caused the situation? A lot of things. A lot of things happened,” Saleng told the interviewer.
Saleng has since been shipped out on a season-long loan to boyhood club Orbit College where he is hoping to revive his career.
