Tinkler: We told Keletso he can go if the right offer came through

By Benjamin Nyirenda in Johannesburg, South Africa


Sekhukhune United winger Keletso Makgalwa has been a subject of transfer speculations after his good form last season after joining from Motsepe Foundation Championship side Upington City.

The former Mamelodi Sundowns winger had been linked to Kaizer Chiefs and also clubs in North Africa and now his coach Eric Tinkler said that though there were no specific approach from any team they were willing to release him if a good offer came through.

Talking to the media at a press conference at the PSL Offices in Parktown Johannesburg ahead of the MTN 8 semifinals second leg against Stellenbosch FC on Saturday Tinkler said that Makgalwa has learnt a lot since he first met him at Maritzburg United when he was on loan from Mamelodi Sundowns.

“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.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,” Tinkler told the media.

Meanwhile Tinkler added that they had to show him 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 add elements to his game to become a better player. 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.