GLYN BINKIN has finally lifted the lid on Bongani Khumalo’s
future in football – revealing he has no great pull to return to South Africa
as “he has no family left here.”
Binkin also defended his player’s role at the African Cup of
Nations earlier this year – pointing to centre-back partner Siya Sangweni’s
role in the Bafana team that failed on penalties to reach the semi-finals on
home soil earlier this year.
We spent two hours in the Ballz visual radio studio
yesterday, discussing several of Binkin’s men – Morgan Gould and Mabhuti
Khenyeza amongst them – but Khumalo’s situation is fascinating.
Binkin is understandably peeved about former Bafana captain
Khumalo’s loan move to Championship side Ipswich falling through when Tottenham
Hotspur changed their wage demands and insisted on being able to recall the
Swaziland-born centre-back in January.
Binkin, who represents many of South Africa’s top
footballers at home and abroad through “The Players' Club”, said: “Bongani’s
been at Spurs for two and a half years now. He went on loan to Preston North
End in 2011 on emergency loan and did really well until he broke a bone in his
ankle.
“Then he went to Reading, started off okay, but after six or
seven games, he lost his place and was unlucky. In January 2012 he went back to
Spurs, even there he was training and playing in the reserves with Sandro, Cudicini,
Kyle Walker.
“He was performing at a high level. Then he went on loan to
PAOK in Greece. He only missed one game before AFCON where he captained South
Africa.
“But while he was away, PAOK signed two permanent central
defenders. He came back and found he had lost his place. But he’s always been a
fighter, he upped his game.
“He was patient, he got back in the team and ended up
playing 25 games in a League rated higher than Norway, Sweden and Denmark. They
won the Champions League qualifying play-offs and was in unbelievable form.
“He came back to South Africa and went to train with
Ipswich, played in a game on day three and did particularly well. Then he
played another. He impressed. But when it came to talks with Spurs, the initial
offer was declined. Spurs went back for more money, Ipswich agreed.
“But then Spurs insisted on a clause which said they could
recall Bongani in January. Ipswich then had the opportunity to sign a
centre-back permanently. The deal fell through.
“I don’t understand why Spurs did that. Now the first team
are in Hong Kong, the development squad are in Portugal and Bongani is training
on his own in London.
“Bongani’s always been a fighter. His life has been hard,
people don’t realise that. His father – a linguistics professor at UNISA – is dead.
His mother, a teacher, has also passed away. He is an only child. He has no
family here.
“When Bongani was 15, he was scouted at a youth tournament
in Ireland by Manchester United but his mother insisted he stay in South Africa
and finish his schooling.
“He did that. Now he has this fight on his hands. There is
no family reason to stay in South Africa. He could play here are earn good
money with the big clubs in the PSL, but he wants to make it in Europe.
“I believe he has the ability and the fighting spirit to be
the next Lucas Radebe, the next Mark Fish. A major defensive talent in Europe.
There are a lot of similarities with Lucas. He struggled for a long time but he
finally got the break at Leeds and now he’s a legend.
“Bongani is not going to give up. He will make sacrifices.
He will forge a career in Europe.”
I asked Binkin if he thought Khumalo got a fair crack of the
whip after he was lampooned for his “model C accent” while captaining South
Africa during AFCON.
Binkin replied: “I don’t believe he had a bad tournament.
He didn’t ask to be captain. It was an honour, he’d captained SuperSport to the
title. Unfortunately he became a scapegoat.
“There were a lot of dynamics in that team that didn’t work
in his favour. I have the ultimate respect for Siya Sangweni, he’s a fantastic
player.
“But at the end of the day he’s a right-sided defender who
scored twice in AFCON from the left wing! Did that suit the team? It was good
that he scored, but it pulled the whole defence out of shape. Bongani got criticised
for that. I don’t think that was fair.”
Glyn was a guest of BOLLOCKZ! my show on www.ballz.co.za, which happens every Thursday
from 10am-noon. We also spoke to Wits coach Gordon Hunt, Mpumalanga boss Clive
Barker and Tlou Segolela’s agent Tim Sukazi about the “political hazards” at
Orlando Pirates. Those interviews will appear here later.
You can also follow me on www.twitter.com/nealcol for all the
latest sports news… and read my “Neal & Pray” column every Tuesday in www.thenewage.co.za.
#BOLLOCKS is backed by www.topodds.com - have a look at their site for my latest sports betting advice!
IMO, I don't think Bongani is PL material (he wasn't even the best defender in the PSL while at SSU)
ReplyDeleteSo, if Spurs have no plans to use him (he isn't even training with them!), then why not sell him or loan him out without a recall clause? I simply can't see the logic in keeping him.
If Khumalo can't find another club in the Championship, then I suggest he try his luck back in the Greek league or the Dutch, Belgian or Russian leagues.
I don't think it's worth his while moving to a Scandinavian league (bit low standard for him) or even worse, coming back to SA (will be labelled a 'failure' and ridiculed).
Lastly, I'm slightly confused about the point of the following statement: "When Bongani was 15, he was scouted at a youth tournament in Ireland by Manchester United but his mother insisted he stay in South Africa and finish his schooling."
Man Utd (and the other PL clubs) scout 100s of players at various youth tournaments every year (I worked for Royal Antwerp when they were a Man Utd 'feeder' team).
But even if they were interested in him, he would have never been offered a contract because of WP issues - so his mama shouldn't have been worried :)
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