Johannesburg - Mandla Masango looked at home at SuperSport United during training on Monday in Sunninghill. The familiar faces - from the coach Stuart Baxter to his new-old teammates Tefu Mashamaite, Reneilwe Letsholonyane, Morgan Gould, Kingston Nkhatha, Riyaad Pieterse and Keagan Ritchie, who all worked together at Kaizer Chiefs - helped him quickly adapt to life at Matsatsantsa a Pitori.
Masango looked sharper than the player who left Amakhosi for Randers in Denmark two years ago. He doesn’t keep the ball that much. His quick one-twos have improved and his runs off the ball are still there.
“My time with Randers did a lot for my game,” Masango said. “I don’t like to talk about a lot of things though. I just want to play football because that’s my job. Talking is for politicians. I am a footballer, I do my talking on the field.”
Masango still belongs to the Danish club, and joined Matsatsantsa on loan until the end of the season.The 27-year-old quickly settled at Randers, scoring on debut and was voted the Player of the Season by the fans in a local newspaper.
Something went pear-shaped along the way.
Masango said it doesn’t have to do with money, while Baxter revealed that Randers didn’t want to lose him ... but if they did it shouldn’t be to another Danish team.
“It feels good to be back home, you know home is where the heart is,” Masango said. “What motivated me to come back is to work with Baxter and my former colleagues (from Chiefs) at SuperSport.”
Baxter will unleash Masango against Golden Arrows on Wednesday night at Lucas Moripe Stadium. The Scottish coach just has to decide whether to start with Masango or use him as an impact player because he will be without the injured striking pair of Bradley Grobler and Jeremy Brockie. That’s nothing new.
Matsatsantsa were hit by injuries for the better part of the first half of the season yet they had enough depth to go into the break on top of the table. It’s quite fitting that the new Masango is working with Baxter, the coach who helped the midfielder find himself.
“It was easy for me to monitor him in Europe, I had my son Lee who works there,” Baxter said. “Hopefully Mandla will come back looking to show that he is the player he was when he was here.
Hopefully he will come back with an appetite because he hasn’t been happy where he has been. He has had to stand on his own feet in a foreign country and mature as a person and a player. That’s the type of person we want.”