Is Mokoena’s move to Sundowns a step back in his career?

If you’ve bothered to pay much attention to former Mamelodi Sundowns and SuperSport United striker, Jeremy Brockie’s tweet to Teboho Mokoena where he sent him a birthday message last week and told him he can’t wait for the 25-year-old to join him in Europe – you might have noticed that Brockie’s tweet had an underlying message that could be interpreted as ‘you won’t stay long at Sundowns’.

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This begs the question: did Mokoena make the right decision to stay in the country instead of choosing a move abroad? Sure, if you move from any team to the big three, Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs and the Brazilians, there is no doubt that it is a step in the right direction in terms of both stature and remuneration. But if you are a player with ambitions of playing in the biggest leagues in the world, what good does it do to move to another local team at the age of 25?

But there have been numerous offers for the Bafana Bafana international coming from overseas – this is according to SuperSport Chief Executive Officer Stanley Matthews, who has time and time again mentioned that they were ready to let go of Mokoena, but only if the offer is right and the only time they’d entertain the thought of selling Mokoena would be if the offer came from abroad.

In a wide-ranging interview with the South African Football Journalists Association last year, Matthews revealed that the influential midfielder would be leaving his team, but little did we know he would be selling him to his crosstown rivals.

At the age of 25, he is at a point where he wants to win trophies and that is something that has happened few times and far in between at United. At the same time, there is the possibility that he could win those trophies while contributing very little. Think of Brockie, who has walked this road before. George Lebese, Lucky Mohomi, Aubrey Ngoma and George Maluleka all have accolades in their CVs and medals at home but don’t have the stories to tell about what they contributed on the pitch.

Maluleka is still there, and the coaches appear as though they have turned a blind eye, completely ignoring his presence at Chloorkop. It remains to be seen whether he will still be at the club when the transfer window closes, but one thing for sure is that Mokoena’s arrival will rank him lower in the pecking order.

It would be interesting to see how Manqoba Mngqithi, Rhulani Mokwena and Steve Komphela will line up their midfield, as they have talent in abundance, such as Sphelele Mkhulise, Andile Jali, Lesedi Kapinga, Neo Maema, Lebogang Maboe, Haashim Domingo, Themba Zwane, Mothobi Mvala and whoever else.