JOHANNESBURG - Mamelodi Sundowns skipper Hlompho Kekana is not worried about being snubbed for most of the Premier Soccer League (PSL) awards that he was nominated for over the past three seasons.
In the previous campaign, he was nominated for Footballer of the Year, Midfielder of the Season and Goal of the Season, and subsequently lost the gongs to teammate Percy Tau and Maritzburg United’s Siphesihle Ndlovu and Golden Arrows' Siphelele Magubane respectively.
However, despite Kekana going home bare-handed from the Sandton Convention Centre on Tuesday, to him the nominations are a source of motivation in continuation with the hard-work that sees him perform week-in and out.
“I take this (being nominated) as a motivation and go and look for more. I always try to make sure that I better my performance,’’ Kekana said. “I am already looking forward to the new season and will try to do better than I did in the past season.”
On losing out on the award to Tau, he said: “We are happy to have him at Mamelodi Sundowns. He has done well for the club. I am just happy that he managed to win the bigger trophy for the club.’’
After a record-breaking season, Tau was the big winner at the PSL awards where he bagged the Footballer of the Year accolade, Players’ Player of the Season and Top goalscorer. As a result, Kekana reckons that 24-year-old is ready to take his career to the next level.
“It would be nice for Percy (Tau) to go (abroad) because he is still young,’’ the 33-year-old said.
“He really deserves to play overseas. I’ve seen a lot of performance that he’s put in and I was impressed with the level of maturity. He’s grown and I think he deserves to play overseas.’’
Kekana did however lead Sundowns to the Premiership title. Photo: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
@Mihlalibaleka