Pitso Mosimane has revealed his admiration for Bafana Bafana midfielder Andile Jali, but admits that there could be a snag in trying to lure him to Mamelodi Sundowns.
Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Sundowns have all reportedly put in a bids for the 28-year-old, who recently parted ways with Belgian outfit KV Oostende by mutual consent following a four-year stay with the club.
Mosimane also recently revealed that he had contacted Jali’s agent in a bid to sign him, but mentioned the factors that could put the move in jeopardy.
“There’s no story” Mosimane told members of the media.
“And if there’s any story we would have signed him today, akiri [isn’t it]?
“There’s no story. We like him, we like him. He’s a good player, we like him, but there’s more than that. It’s more than that. To sign a player is more than that.
“The culture must be good, everything must gel. We made a lot of mistakes at Sundowns, signing [Matthew] Pattison, other people from Europe, Sibusiso Zuma… I’m not saying they didn’t contribute, but you can just check the legacy of the players who are coming here.
“And it is not only us, it’s other teams also. You look at other teams also, you know. It also important to… you have to feel it, is it the one? Does he want to play for you? Is he winding down the clock? “I’m home, I can play.”
“I love Andile. I had him at Bafana Bafana and he’s a very good footballer. Andile has a very good game attitude and you know he’s a tiger, okay. But it’s more than that, it’s more than that… to sign a player it’s more than that.
“Also I need to protect my dressing room neh, because there’s young ones and my team is little bit of a quiet team, quiet. Your Percy [Tau] is quiet. ‘Shuga’ [Tiyani] Mabunda… quiet. [Hlompho] Kekana… quiet. ‘Vila’ [Sibusiso Vilakazi]… quiet. ‘Langa’ [Teboho Langerman]… quiet. Thapelo [Morena]… quiet. You know what I’m trying to say. So I need my dressing room to be quiet, because we’ve made mistakes before and made it louder and it created problems.
“But for the game Andile, I think he can play for us and I like him,” he concluded.
Photo: Backpagepix
-This story originally appeared on SportsClub.co.za
