Pitso looking for a replacement for Chiefs-bound Castro
Replacing Leonardo Castro will be a tough challenge for Pitso Mosimane, with the Colombian forward off to join Kaizer Chiefs in January.
Leonardo Castro and Pitso Mosimane, coach of Mamelodi Sundowns (Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix)
Mosimane is a known admirer of SuperSport United’s Jeremy Brockie, who he tried to lure to Chloorkop at the start of the season.
Only time will tell if the former Bafana Bafana coach will renew his interest in the Kiwi to replace Castro, while Chiefs’ Venezuelan striker Gustavo Paez has also been linked with a move to Sundowns.
READ: Chiefs unveil Leonardo Castro
In the interim, Mosimane says he will continue to use Sibusiso Vilakazi as a false No 9.
“We hope to replace Castro but it is not easy to find a player of his calibre. We are trying to make a duplicate in Sibusiso Vilakazi. He keeps the ball for us and we have a reference to play out to,” said Mosimane.
“But you know how football is, sometimes you wait for that type of player and sometimes you realise you don’t need that kind of player. For us to realise we don’t need the player is when we score a lot of goals,” added the Sundowns coach, who will take charge of Masandawana’s final league game of the year tonight, at home to Cape Town City.
Castro joined the Brazilians in August 2015 and made headlines alongside Khama Billiat and Keagan Dolly as they were famously known as the “CBD”.
The lanky forward scored 10 goals in his debut season when they won the 2015/16 Absa Premiership, notching up a record-setting 71 points in the Premier Soccer League era. Over the past season-and-a-half, Castro has been out of form and Mosimane says his dip in performance was due to injuries and off-field matters.
“He had his own personal issues that we don’t want to talk about but we supported him on that, he was forever not around, he was in Colombia, so we have to understand and support that.
“Leo was a big part of us when we won the league with 71 points. He was a big part of our Caf Champions League campaign although he only played half of it,” said Mosimane.
“We can say that he is the one who brought us the South American influence, he has done well. But you know there comes a time where we need to accept, we need to move on.”
READ: Castro joins Kaizer Chiefs from Mamelodi Sundowns
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