No Rollers deal for SA�s dribbling wizard
Kabelo Boranabi | Tuesday April 25, 2017 16:10
The 26-year-old rose to fame when his videos hit over 700,000 views on Youtube, sparking interest from a host of PSL teams including Orlando Pirates before he signed for Baroka FC. He has only managed 87 minutes of football this season with four appearances.
Matete was released by the PSL side in January and has been without a club since. According to media reports in South Africa, Matete has agreed a move to Rollers as he attempts to revive his career. “He is joining Township Rollers until the end of the season. Everything has already been agreed,” Matete’s manager, Abel ‘Chaklas’ Shongwe told South African football publication KickOff.
Reached for comment, Rollers’ coach Mogomotsi ‘Teenage’ Mpote refuted the reports but said there was earlier interest in the player. “There is no truth in the reports. He has not signed with us. He was once one of the players whom we looked at but nothing materialised,” he said.
The tactician further said due to the club’s relationship with South African sides, there has been interest by some of the players to join Popa. “We mostly play our pre-season games with teams in SA. There have been a lot of players who were interested in joining us looking at how we played against them.”
“Remember we had (Gerald) Junior Phiri here last season. There are lot of players that side that would want to play for us, but as of now we have not signed anyone. One would just speculate but truly there is no news on the player,” Mpote said yesterday.
Matete has made 11 league appearances, with five coming from the bench while scoring a single goal in one and half years he spent with the Limpopo-based side.
The Youtube sensation has not lived up to the demands of the modern football hence he finds himself without a club.
Meanwhile, Rollers who are on course to win their second successive league title have maximised their foreign quota with the club’s top goal scorer Terrence Mandaza (Zimbabwe), Pape Adoulaye Ndaw (Senegal) and Lawrence Majawa (Malawi) filling the three spots.
With Majawa (37) and Mandaza (32) on the wrong side of 30, Popa is likely to move for young foreign players under Mpote.
The club is said to have identified Motlakase Power Dynamos midfielder, Tapiwa Nyamanjiva as a possible replacement for Majawa who is likely to hang his boots at the end of the season.