DURBAN - Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane doesn’t regret paying a hefty transfer fee to secure the services of Bafana Bafana defender Rivaldo Coetzee.
Mosimane referred to Coetzee as a good investment after the former Ajax Cape Town defender penned a five-year deal with Sundowns last week.
The move happened a few days after his proposed transfer to Glasgow Celtic collapsed last week.
Coetzee (20) failed a medical with the Scottish giants but that didn’t stop the Brazilians from signing him.
“When you have a 20-year-old playing for Bafana, whom you can see that the way he plays football for Ajax he can fit in your team and he is available, what do you do?
"Football is a game of moments. If he is available at that time, you have to take the chance. I know that I will have five centre backs. I’m aware. Do you want to lose the chance of signing this 20-year-old?" Mosimane enthused.
"The boy went to Ajax Amsterdam, okay, they did like him. This boy has been tipped to go everywhere. Brendon Rodgers (Celtic's coach) speaks so well about the boy because he has been watching his games. This boy posses international experience.
"I ask myself, can he play Champions League? Off course he has been to Senegal and so many away games with the national team. We’ve never found a situation where we say the weakness is here and there. He is available and I can get him on the local market. You have to go for it. Off course, you are going to pay a little bit more.”
Let's welcome the extremely talented Rivaldo Coetzee to the home of the African Champions. #WelcomeRivaldo pic.twitter.com/3tADQj4Ktd
— Mamelodi Sundowns FC (@Masandawana) August 31, 2017
Mosimane continued: “Bongani Zungu, I found him at 20-years-old from Tuks and some people were saying we lost him for free. Don’t be greedy. Sometimes you must look at reality. I think you guys know how much he was earning at Tuks.
"He won two leagues, Nedbank Cup and the Telkom Knockout with me. Good move? Yes. It is the same with Rivaldo. I’m not to sure whether he does have a buyout clause or not. Let us wait and see. Give him three years,” Mosimane explained.
At Sundowns, Coetzee will compete with the likes of Bangaly Soumahoro, Wayne Arendse, Modjeka Madisha, Ricardo Nascimento, who is still out injured. The lad from Kakamass in the Northern Cape has the advantage of having already competed at the highest level, having played at the Olympic Games and the Africa Cup of Nations. Even so, Coetzee will reportedly be out of action for up to nine months.
“Medically, his situation will be sorted. He doesn’t have to stay out nine months, like everybody said, he will be out for the year. Our specialist said it doesn’t have to be like that. He will be back soon. It won’t take nine months.
I thinks three months maybe," Mosimane said. "Rivaldo is a good investment. You can’t compromise on age when there’s quality. We are willing to let Rivaldo go if Brendon wants to see him again.”
Mosimane claims he's done a lot of big deals before he joined Sundowns.
“When I was at SuperSport United, we paid R500 000 for Denis Masina. It took the whole budget. He came and he was unbelievable. He was 18 at that time. We sold him overseas after three years. It was worth it. I bought Teko Modise for R600 000 at City Pillars in the NFD. People were saying how can you spend so much on the player from the NFD? I drove myself to make the deal.
"I paid R650 000 for Patrick Mayo and the late Abraham Raselemane from Umthatha Bucks. It was like paying R9 million at that time. They don't all come right hey, but im just counting the ones that worked.”