OPINION: Pirates made a mistake to loan Mabasa to Swallows

It’s easy to talk in hindsight, especially in football where everyone has an opinion.

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In-from Orlando Pirates striker Tshegofatso Mabasa divides opinions. The burning question is whether the Buccaneers made a mistake by loaning him out to Moroka Swallows at the beginning of the season.

Since his recall from the Dube Birds in the January transfer window, the 27-year-old has scored nine league goals in as many matches to help them push for a second-placed finish and qualify for the Caf Champions League.

One can’t help but wonder where Pirates would have been on the log if Mabasa had been there from the start because their coach Jose Riveiro has been complaining about the lack of cutting edge in the final third.

It could be argued that the difference between Pirates now and the first half of the season is that they’ve got a finisher. Zakhele Lepasa faded when the team needed him the most after a blistering start to the campaign.

Mabasa’s presence would have helped the Soweto giants push Mamelodi Sundowns for the DStv Premiership championship. The former Bloemfontein striker banged in six goals for an average Swallows side to prove that he’s capable of finding the net if given a fair chance.

Overall, the left-footed forward has 18 goals across all competitions having also scored three in the Nedbank Cup for Pirates. He now leads the goal-scoring charts with 15 league goals.

It would be a shock if Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos doesn’t include Mabasa in his squad for next month’s world cup qualifiers against Nigeria and Zimbabwe.

To be fair to Riveiro, he revealed that when he first arrived at the club in his first season that Mabasa was not there as he was already shipped out to Sekhukhune United where he only managed to score two goals in nine appearances in the 2022/23 season.

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The Spaniard also admitted that he’s just a piece of the project at Pirates and that maybe suggests that he doesn’t have the final say on the movements at the club.

Whatever the reasons were for letting Mabasa go on loan, his form suggests that not trusting him from the word go was a mistake.