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.