Benni's bombshell: "I want to win the Champions League with Orlando Pirates"

Benni McCarthy has set himself one final target after 16 gruelling years of professional football – he wants to become the first man to win both the European and African Champions League trophies.

And to do that of course, the 33-year-old will simply have to join South African champions Orlando Pirates .

McCarthy famously came on in the 78th minute of the 2004 Champions League final to help Jose Mourinho’s Porto defeat Monaco 3-0 at Arena AufSchalke in Germany after scoring twice against Manchester United during qualifying.

Since then McCarthy has suffered mixed fortunes – he scored 37 goals in 109 games for Blackburn Rovers before his well-documented weight problems in a goal-free year at West Ham in 2010.

Released by the Hammers earlier this year amid a plethora of “fat chance” headlines, McCarthy – who failed to make South Africa’s World Cup squad last year - is currently out of contract and training with Ajax in Cape Town.

And despite noises about a permanent move back to the Mother City where he was born in 1977, McCarthy said yesterday: "Pirates are talking about winning the African Champions League – I could become the first player to win the Champions League in Europe and in Africa. That would be a very special record.

. "I don't really see myself starting all over again in another country. I've moved around enough.

"As a kid, growing up playing football, you always wanted to play for Kaizer Chiefs or Pirates; you wanted to play in that big Soweto derby.

"Me, I wanted to play for Chiefs, but really, Chiefs or Pirates, that was the dream. They are like Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain; every kid's dream.

"I feel a lot for Ajax, of course, but I'm not sure of their ambitions on the pitch – what they are saying to me is more about attracting more fans. I'm still ambitious to win more trophies.”

Pirates chairman Irvin “Iron Duke” Khoza and his new Brazilian boss Jusio Cesar Leal are apparently interested in the man who has played over 500 games at the top level, scoring nearly 200 goals, including a record 31 in 79 games for Bafana Bafana.

Even Ajax chief exec George Comitis said: "I know Irvin has been on to Benni’s agent – Benni told me that himself – but I don't know how serious they are."

McCarthy’s agent Rob Moore had been looking for an American or Arabic retirement home for his iconic striker – but McCarthy admitted last week: "I’ve played abroad and I think what I learned over there I can give back and inspire some of the younger kids to see a different side to life.

“If Benni comes home and I make a good living for myself… I live alright… maybe that’s what every kid from the street would want to have.

“I got distracted at West Ham but I’m starting to get the love back for football.”

Last night Pirates official Floyd Mbele was quoted as saying he was “unaware of any interest” in McCarthy, who will be available for free after a reported £1.5m pay-out terminated his West Ham nightmare.

Comitis refused to accept McCarthy isn't tempted by his former club Ajax, last season’s unlucky SAPL runners-up, adding: "I know Benni really wants to be with us, here at home in Cape Town, despite all the talk about winning another Champions League."

And McCarthy insists big-spending Mamelodi Sundowns, under new Dutch megastar Johan Neeskens, are “still sniffing” too.

But what about the fines for being fat at West Ham? The headlines which surrounded his torrid year in London’s East End? He grins: “I’ve been working. Changed my life, started to live healthier, looked after myself a bit more because I realised the healthier you are, the longer you live. I want to live to see my kids have kids one day; so that just made me change certain ways of my life and hopefully I can maintain and achieve my goals.

“It all depends on what my legs say. At the moment, I can still juggle it, I can still keep up with the younger boys so I don’t see any point for me yet to throw in the towel.

“When you start having kids your life changes, you can’t be an irresponsible, stupid little boy anymore.”

McCarthy in no rush to secure a new club as Musona's German move nears completion

Benni McCarthy appears to be in no rush to secure a new club as he flew to Cape Town “to get keep fit and get his touch of the ball back” this week.

The 33-year-old, who has scored more international goals than any other South African, arrives in the Mother City in no apparent hurry to refute the “fat and lazy” slurs which followed him out of the exit door after 18 goalless months at West Ham United in April.

Even his agent, Rob Moore, appears relaxed about McCarthy’s laid-back attitude. He told my colleague Ed Aarons last week: “Benni has just got back from Disneyland.”

Aarons, now working for Sky Sports after his World Cup stint with the Citizen in Johannesburg, spoke to Moore again yesterday when news of Benni’s jaunt to Cape Town broke on Twitter. This time Moore said: “The bottom line is Benni is planning on coming to Cape Town for a holiday and he asked me to ask Ajax if they mind if he trains there to keep fit.

“We haven’t planned anything yet because he has been on holiday for the start of June so it just a matter of starting things up and seeing what direction we move.

“He’s on holiday visiting friends and you can’t spend 24/7 doing that so he wants to have somewhere he can go and get his touch of the ball back and that type of thing.

“Obviously certain clubs have certain targets in mind at this point in time so maybe a decision will only be taken in August. It’s still early days.”

Moore claims interest from clubs in America’s MLS and the lucrative middle-east, where Qatar and the United Arab Emirates offer big money to professionals looking for a retirement package.

McCarthy, so sharp during his days with Jose Mourinho’s Porto and Sam Allardyce’s Blackburn Rovers in his heyday, will train next week with new Ajax coach Maarten Stekelenburg to get himself back in some sort of shape, but both Moore and McCarthy’s twittering brother Jerome reckons no discussions have been held about a permanent move.

Ajax Cape Town CEO George Comitis, who saw his side go so close to the South African Premier League title last season, said simply: “No, he is not joining us. He is just coming to train with us while he is in Cape Town.”

McCarthy’s brother Jerome, who also works as a player agent, twittered: “My brother is coming to Cape Town tomorrow, but I do not know anything about him signing for Ajax.

“Maybe somebody found out he was travelling to Cape Town and made up their own conclusions, but he has not said anything to me about it.”

Jerome also mentioned Benni had elicited interest from Qatar and the MLS, but concluded: “That is all I know.”

As I told SABC’s excellent football commentator Sizwe Mabena on MetroFM’s Discovery Sport Centre on Thursday night, McCarthy can do better than that. Long derided by Bafana Bafana fans for his on-off attitude towards the national squad, this is when McCarthy should consider giving something back to the nation of his birth, confirming his reputation as South Africa’s finest modern striker.

Mr Moore rarely appreciates my views, but McCarthy is being presented with the perfect opportunity to end his career with a bang in the city of his birth. If he trains hard and impresses Stekelenburg, then Ajax are bound to make a bid for a man cast out of West Ham four months ago after twice being fined for being overweight.

Failing Ajax, he could even consider a move to Kaiser Chiefs if Knowledge Musona goes to the Bundesliga, as appears increasingly likely.

Chiefs general manager Bobby Motaung told the Sowetan: “It was a successful trip for the player who flew to Germany on Sunday and joined the team for the pre-season in Austria.”

Motaung confirmed TSG Hoffenheim have offered Chiefs R15m for Musona and that Amazulu’s Lehlohonolo Majoro is being lined up along with FC Twente’s unsettled Bernard Parker to replace Musona. But surely a fit, hungry McCarthy could do the job?

Moore admits: “One doesn’t rule anything out at this stage because we haven’t sat down so we will just have to see what happens.

“I’m sure there are a few clubs that would like to sign him. I think he needs to get all his holidays and visits completed and then at that point he can see what the right choice should be.”

Exactly.

Benni McCarthy Scores For QPR But Will They Take Him Off West Ham's Hands as the new loan ranger?

Benni McCarthy’s canny knack of scoring goals may have secured a loan move to Championship leaders Queens Park Rangers this week.

The 33-year-old, frustrated at current club West Ham where Avram Grant refuses to even grant him a place on the bench, was allowed to play in a reserve friendly for QPR against Spurs on Tuesday.

And South Africa’s all-time top-scorer promptly scored despite a heavy 9-2 defeat against a tough Spurs second string side that included Republic of Ireland striker Robbie Keane, England centre-back Jonathan Woodgate and young Jamie O’Hara.

Ironically, cash-rich West London outfit QPR – backed by steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal and Formula One moguls Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briattore – could replace EastEnd strugglers West Ham in the Premier League in May.

McCarthy’s agent Rob Moore is believed to be “in talks” with QPR boss Neil Warnock. The deal appears to involve McCarthy moving on loan, with QPR paying most of his £50,000-a-week salary until May.

If he scores the goals to help QPR gain promotion back to the top flight for the first time since 1996, he will be signed on a full-term basis.

Warnock, a shrewd, experienced boss who gave up his day job as a chiropodist when he took non-League minnows Scarborough into the Football League way back in 1986, is urgently seeking a goal-getter for the second half of the season, having lost two strikers - Jamie Mackie and Patrick Agyemangboth – with broken legs before the New Year.

McCarthy was signed from Blackburn Rovers by Gian Franco Zola for £2.5m last January but a knee injury suffered on his debut wrecked his Upton Park career. By the time he had battled back to fitness, he had been fined for putting on weight by new club owner David Sullivan, missed the World Cup in his own country, and dour Israeli Grant had replaced the flamboyant Zola.

Despite assurances from his agent Moore that the Capetonian “has been at the right weight since October”, Grant rarely even gives McCarthy a glimpse of the bench. If he leaves this week, he will go without a single goal for West Ham’s first team. In a year, he has made just 13 appearances for West Ham, with 10 of those as a substitute.

Meanwhile Steven Pienaar’s transfer to Tottenham, first predicted by this writer three months ago, was confirmed on the club’s official website yesterday.

Pienaar, who will wear the No40 shirt at Spurs when Spurs play Newcastle on Saturday, twittered yesterday: “Saying final goodbyes at Everton tomorrow. It’s not easy after many great years. Thanks to all the fans, you have been brilliant.”

Pienaar said of his first appearance at Tottenham’s Chigwell training facility yesterday: “Friendly reception from players yesterday. Michael Dawson first to say hello then Rafa (van der Vaart, his former team-mate at Ajax in Amsterdam). Great to team up with him, he's been great this season.”

Lalas Shoots Down The Loan Ranger: Beckham May Have To Stay on Holiday

Harry Redknapp’s loan ranger master-plan was in tatters last night after former LA Galaxy manager Alexi Lalas poured cold water on David Beckham’s chances of appearing in a Tottenham shirt later this month.

Lalas, in charge of Beckham’s MLS club from 2006-2008, said: "The reason David went on loan to Milan for the last two years was to prepare, in theory, for the World Cup.

"I think that was commendable and understandable to a certain extent - but now it is happening again I'm not sure."

Redknapp has been most vocal in his interest in taking Becks – England’s most capped outfield player – on loan, though Newcastle and Blackburn have also expressed an interest this week.

But Lalas told BBC Radio 5 live: "Soccer fans in the US say David Beckham has given a lot, but he's also taken a tremendous amount out of Major League Soccer."

Landon Donovan, LA Galaxy’s second most famous player, has already rejected the chance to go out on loan as he did so successfully with Everton before the World Cup. And American fans remain furious over the six-month Achilles tendon injury 35-year-old Beckham suffered playing on loan for AC Milan against Chievo in March.

That put him out of the World Cup and saw him appear only as a bit-part player in the regular season last year, playing just five games. The MLS’s best paid player was booed by Galaxy fans when he came back from his loan spell at the San Siro in 2009 and Lalas admits: "When Landon Donovan comes out and says he won’t go on loan this year, it certainly puts pressure on David."

Redknapp has toned down his need for Beckham, whose MLS season kicks-off on March 15, admitting: "Weeks fly by and this month will have come and gone before we know where we are. It's a difficult one. But let's wait and see, it's not in my hands.

"He'd be great to have around the place and I'm sure he's got a lot to offer as a player and a person. As a professional, he's top class."

Blackburn’s new owners – India’s chickens-to-chemicals Venky Group - have said their club are "open whenever David is ready to come". They have also confirmed a £6.2m bid for Brazilian Ronaldinho.

Beckham remains keen to gain some playing time in the Premier League to enhance his chances of adding to his record 115 England caps. Under pressure Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti, in charge of Milan when Beckham was his loan ranger, said: “Beckham could be good support for Tottenham if he comes back. But we are not interested. In that position we have good players."

January Transfer Window Special: West Ham reject Benni McCarthy Set For Celtic Escape

South Africa’s top scorer Benni McCarthy has been offered a way out of his West Ham nightmare – by Celtic boss Neil Lennon.

Yesterday’s Glasgow Evening Times splashed with the story that McCarthy, 33, is being targeted for a move in the January transfer window by the legendary Bhoys, not to be confused with South Africa’s Bloemfontein Celtic, though both sides wear the traditional green-and-white hoops.

Celtic boss Lennon is “well aware of McCarthy’s availability” after his efforts to sign Spurs midfielder Niko Kranjcar broke down.

McCarthy would jump at the chance of playing at a packed Parkhead after a season of misery, diets and cushions with the rock-bottom Hammers in the Premier League.

McCarthy, signed from Blackburn for £2.5m by Gianfranco Zola in the last January transfer window, suffered a knee injury in his opening game for West Ham in February. Then his weight ballooned and the Cape Town-born striker missed out on selection for Bafana Bafana’s World Cup squad on home soil.

He returned to a series of lurid stories about his weight in the British press and was fined two weeks' wages by new club owner David Sullivan, who said: “I have a better Body Mass Index. And I’m 60.”

McCarthy worked hard to reduce his weight and has returned to the squad under new boss Avram Grant, but rarely makes an appearance ahead of Carlton Cole and a host of under-performing strikers. When he did turn out for West Ham last month, one British journalist described him as being “rusty” and looking like “something out of Acorn Antiques”.

Lennon is weighing up whether to take McCarthy on a loan deal until the end of the season or sign him permanently.

With Gary Hooper still missing for at least another month through injury, Lennon desperately needs a proven goalscorer - and McCarthy’s goals-per-game record would suggest he would thrive in the SPL, which is traditionally dominated by Celtic and arch-rivals Rangers. He has scored a record 31 goals in 79 games for Bafana Bafana and hit 37 in 109 at Blackburn. But his 34 in 74 games for Jose Mourinho's European Champions Porto really put him on the map. Mind you, that was back in 2003-2006.

Given the club’s Roman Catholic roots, even McCarthy’s surname fits the bill! His deal at West Ham runs until 2012 but with just six substitute appearances in the Premier League this season, his departure will not be a surprise.

Lennon is losing interest in 26-year-old Croatian Kranjcar, who is out of favour at Spurs over the £6m price tag. McCarthy would be available for about a third of that.

McCarthy’s age will not be a problem. Canadian Dwayne De Rosario, 32, and former Arsenal star Freddie Ljungberg, 33, are both training with the squad pending deals.

Lennon, who himself signed a 12-month contract in the summer, said: "I think it's fair to say we are dealing in the short term but that's not to protect me.

"I'm doing what I can to get players who can win the championship for the club. It's a big year for us.

"I've brought in the likes of Beram Kayal, Joe Ledley and Efrain Juarez to look after the club's development in the next few years.

"But I also want a couple of kings in the team who can talk others through the games at times."

Celtic are currently top of the Scottish Premier, a point clear of Rangers – but their Protestant arch-rivals have two games in hand before the traditional Old Firm derby between the two sides at Ibrox on Sunday. Third placed side Hearts are five points adrift of the Glaswegian duo.

Who the hell is Neal Collins (nealcol on Twitter)? See www.nealcollins.co.uk.

Allardyce in new attack on McCarthy at Hammer falls on South Africa striker

SAM ALLARDYCE’S sustained attack on Benni McCarthy continued today as the Blackburn manager put the boot into his South African striker before the Premier League clash against Wigan at Ewood Park tonight.

No-nonsense Allarydyce is furious Cape Town-born McCarthy, 32, “went on strike” once problems over his move to West Ham surfaced. McCarthy, desperate to play first team football before the World Cup kicks off in his home country in June, has work permit problems and both clubs are still haggling over the price tag, believed to be around £2.25m (R2.5bn).

With the deal set to go through today (Wednesday) Allardyce said: “It will be the size of the contract and the size of the money that Benni will go for.

“I’ve never had a player go on strike before. If I was guessing I’d say he was in London. We don’t like the situation, it’s very difficult but he’s been badly advised.

“We just had to make sure the situation gets resolved for the best of Blackburn Rovers.. If you’re at a club you have to play for your place – World Cup or not. If you’re not consistent enough then you don’t get in the side. Simple as that.”

Ironically, McCarthy could make his debut against Blackburn at West Ham's Upton Park on Saturday with the January transfer window closing on Monday.

Allardyce, who yesterday accused McCarthy of being “unprofessional” said today: “The players haven't mentioned Benni. Everything surrounding him is not important, were are concentrating on football.

“It's up to the players to go out and show that we don't need Benni McCarthy. That we can do it without him. That would be great.

“We have a good squad, we have a very talented squad. It has not fulfilled its expectation in results. But it is getting gradually better and better and it is not going to harm us too much if Benni leaves.”

Monaco’s former Chelsea and Barcelona striker Eidur Gudjohnsen, Stoke City’s experienced James Beattie or Stuttgart’s Turkish midfielder Yildiray Bastürk are all rumoured to be McCarthy’s replacements, though West Ham and their new owners are also after Gudjohnsen.

Allardyce insists: “I believe if Benni goes, we will sign at least one player. It might be a better player to what we have got but it might not be on the front line.

“I don’t really believe that it has to be one in one out in that position.

"If a big player turns up that we believe can make a big difference in whatever position then that should be the replacement for Benni McCarthy.”