Sekhukhune United winger Keletso Makgalwa has been a subject of transfer speculation after his good form last season, but head coach Eric Tinkler has now addressed the matter.
The former Mamelodi Sundowns winger had been linked to Kaizer Chiefs and also clubs in North Africa after an impressive 2024/25 campaign, where he registered four goals and 11 assists in the Betway Premiership.
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Talking to the media at a press conference ahead of the MTN 8 semi-final second leg against Stellenbosch FC, Tinkler that should a suitable offer come in for Makgalwa, the club will accept it.
“Keletso had a good season, I actually worked with Keletso at Maritzburg. When I joined Keletso was there, I sent him back to Sundowns. We all identify that he is a talented player with natural talent, natural ability. And I think he needed to go through a learning phase and probably going to Upington was a good thing for him to make him grow," Tinkler told the media.
"I think last season he had a great season and obviously a lot of speculation come the end of the season about where his future. A lot of it was through the media. I think it affected him at the beginning of the season. He didn’t perform well at all in pre-season in the games that we played. He didn’t perform well in the first three games and needed to sit him down, which is managing the player.
"So, that was my task, managing him and making him aware that he is a Sekhukhune United player and if a right offer came then that offer will be accepted, but if it is not the right offer then he will continue to be a Sekhukhune player so he needed to understand that.
"I think gradually he has come to recognise that the opportunity is still there and will come again. Can he repeat what he done last season this season then people will take him more serious. I had to sit with him and show him that ‘understand something, you have become a target, when you are successful people will start targeting you, and will want to bring you down’. Players have studied you and they now know what to do, teams have studied you."
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Meanwhile, Tinkler added that they had to show Makgalwa how the opposition have worked on his game and he had to improve as well.
“We showed him clips of the first two games and every time he got the ball he had two to three players around him pressing him because they know he is a threat so he has to diversify his game. He cannot be the same player and has to add elements to his game to become a better player," he added.
"Salah does the same thing week in week out but he still finds ways to create those goals and assists. The first three games he was being closed down and he was not finding the alternatives and so I had to sit him down and make him understand how he could rectify his game to become more effective," Tinkler concluded.
