South African football icon Teko Modise has revealed that if Kaizer Chiefs had been in the race to sign him when he was still at SuperSport United, he would never have ended up at Orlando Pirates.
Modise, widely regarded as one of the most gifted footballers to grace football pitches in South Africa, spent many years in the famous black and white of Ezimnyama ngenkani ezikamagebhula.
It was at Pirates where he made his name and produced some of his best football, but it was at Mamelodi Sundowns where he finally experienced the sweet taste of success, where he won two league titles and a host of other trophies, including the CAF Champions League in 2016.
However, had Amakhosi’s football manager Bobby Motaung followed up on his interest shown in the player, Modise would have ended up at Naturena.
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“I could have played for Chiefs a little bit earlier but I don’t know what happened. I think Bobby Motaung can tell the story a little better. He called me after the first season of playing in Mvela (National First Division) and said ‘I want you to come play for Chiefs’,” Modise said when speaking on the Izinja zeGame podcast.
“I said I am ready whenever you are. And I waited for five, six years and it he never came through. That’s why I started disliking Chiefs.”
He continued: “I knew that the No.10 jersey was waiting for me at Chiefs. I knew I was going to do better things. Imagine my performance at Pirates and put it at Chiefs.
“The first team that I got accustomed to and introduced to as a kid was Chiefs, I knew everything about Chiefs. My idol (Doctor Khumalo) played for Chiefs.
“I did not care how much money I was going to get, I wanted to play for Chiefs. But now that I was not given the opportunity to play for Chiefs – and there was no point where I was expensive to buy, no,” he said.
“SuperSport were getting rid of me and I had the opportunity to play for Sundowns, but Pirates came through first. “If Chiefs came through the same period as Pirates, I was going to go to Chiefs. But I went to Pirates because of the love he gave me the first time I saw [Irvin Khoza].”
With Chiefs not acting on their interest, Modise moved to Pirates after being convinced by chairman Irvin Khoza.
“I got the call from my manager (Jazzman Mahlakgane) on a Monday saying ‘please come to Parktown’, I get there and realised it was Pirates offices and met the chairman Dr Irvin Khoza.
“He sold me the story of why Orlando Pirates is Orlando Pirates, why and it is important to play for Pirates. It was an easy decision because I was not there to say no – it was an opportunity for me to play for a big team.”
Sport
