Yanela Mbuthuma's face lit up when he first heard of Orlando Pirates' interest in his services and now the former Richards Bay striker has the chance to live the dream of playing for one of South Africa's biggest clubs.
Mbuthuma signed a five-year deal with the Natal Rich Boyz after their top flight status was secured. Pirates, though, were not deterred by this. The Buccaneers stepped in after he played in the international friendlies Bafana Bafana played in June against Tanzania and Mozambique and made it clear that they want to have him on board.
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His agent, Basia Michaels of QT Sports, gave Soccer Laduma insight into how the deal happened.
"Yes, he signed five years at Richards Bay. He signed five years once Richards Bay had secured its status. That's when we did the contract. Then he went and played for the national team and I do think there was a lot of benefit in seeing Yanela with his now teammates Rele (Mofokeng), (Mohau) Nkota, (Sinoxolo) Kwayiba and (Tshepang) Moremi. You look at the way they played and immediately after that, I received a call from the chairman, asking me if the deal was possible. I told him he had just re-signed and he said they wanted to explore the possibility to see if it can work," Michaels said.
"Subsequently, I had a call with chairman Biyela and we discussed what we needed to discuss and here we are."
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Michaels explained why the deal makes sense for the 23-year-old striker. She further revealed how excited Mbuthuma was when he heard that the Buccaneers wanted to have him on board.
"He deserves it. Look at Richards Bay for the last two seasons and how Yanela performed during the playoffs. He was a standout. I have the vivid memory of him getting the man of the match award and his grandmother was there. Those types of moments deserve to be rewarded.
"I can remember the expression on his face when I said it's Pirates. His face just lit up. He was extremely excited for the new challenge and new opportunity. I also think we don't give enough credit to club owners like Jomo Biyela, where they look at an opportunity and say 'I would love to keep you, but if this is something you want to do, then please go on and flourish'."
