Wydad Athletic Club coach Rulani Mokwena believes the club’s fans will see the best of Thembinkosi Lorch in due course after he made his debut on Sunday.
Lorch was a 64th minute substitute for Wydad as they won 2-0 against Hassania d’Agadir, their fourth league win in a row, which leaves them one point behind second-placed AS FAR, and there were some positive signs from him.
The player, on a six-month loan from Mamelodi Sundowns, was among a host of new signings who were included in the matchday squad by Mokwena but the tactician did not want to talk too much about his fresh faces, promising fans a lot with time.
“I’m proud of the debut of all the players, except the last 10 minutes we lost a lot of balls, but ok that’s normal,” Mokwena said after the match.
“[Mickael] Malsa still needs a bit of legs, [Fahd] Moufi needs a little bit of legs, [Samuel] Obeng, Lorch they need a bit of legs.
Mokwena impressed by new signings
“But congratulations, a very good performance from the starters and from the subs.”
Mokwena feels Lorch, and the other new players, will start showing their true quality once they have enough training and get used to how he wants his team to play.
“The club has done some good work, I think we’ve done some excellent work,” he added on Wydad’s transfer activity.
“Well done to all of them. I think [El Mehdi] Benabid did very, very well, [he’s] very comfortable, he helps us a lot. But he will have strong competition with Youssef Moti – Moti is a quality goalkeeper and I’ve never seen him train the way he trained the last few days.
“I think Mohammed [El Jadidi] is going to be very, very good in the next few years. So, he’s on for the future.
Why is Rulani not talking about Lorch?
“Zakaria [Fatihi] is going to help us a lot. He’s fast, he’s aggressive. He’s going to help Rai a little bit with the workload.
“And then I’m not going to talk about Moufi, I’m not talking about Lorch, I will not talk about Malsa, I will not talk about Obeng and [Selemani] Mwalimu – you will see for yourselves…
“I honestly think that you will see they are very good players, but they do the talking on the pitch.”
Lorch reunited with Mokoena at Wydad after finding playing time difficult at Sundowns and he is looking to revive his career in Morocco.
Mokwena signed Lorch for Sundowns from Orlando Pirates in January 2024 but the player struggled to make an impact with the PSL giants and fell down the pecking order under his predecessors Manqoba Mngqithi and Miguel Cardoso before he asked for transfer away in January.
