New United man looking to emulate former Chiefs striker Musona

New SuperSport United striker Nokutenda Mangezi has wasted no time in setting his own personal targets for the 2024-25 Betway Premiership season. With Matsatsantsa a Pitori veteran forward Bradley Grobler out with an injury, Mangezi was thrown into the deep end in Tuesday’s Tshwane derby against Mamelodi Sundowns.

The 19-year-old Zimbabwean joined United as an unknown quantity to most South Africans but he’s highly rated in his native country having been on the books topflight club Simba Bhora after cutting his teeth at the Real Betis Academy.

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While most strikers shy away from revealing their targets, Mangezi who looked up to former Kaizer Chiefs striker Knowledge Musona is already thinking about hitting double figures in his first season in the PSL.

“I want to reach 10 goals before halfway through the season. Maybe that would be a good thing for me because I’m a striker,” said the exciting prospect. 

“I have to score goals so I think 10 goals should be the bare minimum for me halfway through the season. I would say that (I looked up to) Knowledge Musona because he plays in my position and he scores goals. 

“That’s my job, I have to score goals and since I was a young boy in high school, I always wanted to be like him one day and maybe even (achieve) more than him but you never know but Musona has been my idol since day one.” 

Mangezi was speaking on Thursday ahead of United’s second league clash of the campaign against Royal AM at the weekend. After playing 90 minutes against Sundowns, the youngster will be hoping for a better showing on Saturday as United target their first three points of the season.

“This is a breakthrough (move) and it’s unbelievable because I came here just to train with the team and the coaches started loving me so they decided to sign me and I came here in July,” he said.

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“It was a great game starting against one of the biggest teams in South Africa. It was a good thing to start against those guys because you get to know how the league is and get used to it. I wasn’t nervous because when you’re nervous, you start making a lot of mistakes so I was just confident heading into the game.”