Abel Mabaso Breaks Silence About His Departure From Pirates

Former Orlando Pirates defender Abel Mabaso says it was surprising to see his name among the players who were going to be released by the club. He believes that last season he did well enough to be trusted again in the upcoming campaign.

He says the club didn’t foresee him playing in the future and therefore decided to release him. The former Mamelodi Sundowns right-back is from KwaZulu-Natal and joining Richards Bay kind of gives him a home advantage.

“It was a privilege and honour to represent a club of the magnitude of Orlando Pirates. I am grateful for the opportunity the club granted me. I’ve had ups and I’ve had downs,” Mabaso told Soccer Laduma.

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“We just felt that in terms of moving forward, we decided that it’s best for me to look for other opportunities and new challenges. It was best for me to take that new step and look forward to a new beginning and look forward to a new challenge. The club treated me well for the past four years and I’ve served them well.

“The club felt like I might not be playing as much as I was playing in the past season in the upcoming season. They kind of forecasted that I might not get as much game-time as I would have got in the previous season.

“Football is a place of opinions, so I just thought that if they had that in mind, it’s best that I go now while the relationship is still good and go to a different place. I played a lot of games, so it was kind of surprising, to be honest, especially with the number of games I played and (what I) contributed to the team and how we did in the previous season.

“I did fairly well in the previous season and the club deems that I am not going to be getting as much game-time in the coming season. So, that’s what happened. We agreed to part ways in an amicable way.”

PIRATES MIDFIELDER HAPPY TO RETURN TO KZN

Another Pirates player that was offloaded, Nkanyiso Zungu was loaned to Richards Bay. He began his career at AmaZulu before he moved to Stellenbosch FC and is delighted to go revive his career in his home province KwaZulu-Natal. The reason for his loan is mainly a limited game time since his arrival at Pirates.

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“Coming back home makes me happy, I’ve been away for a while and I’m here to restart, showcase my talent, so I’m so happy to be back home, play football which is something I love,” Zungu told the media.

“This is the place where it all started, I went to AmaZulu, Stellenbosch and Orlando Pirates to gain more experience but as much as I learnt a lot, I’m here to restart and behave like someone that doesn’t know anything at all.”

“I feel like it was time for me to move to Orlando Pirates, it was God’s plan and I don’t regret it, as a player you have to be strong, not playing so many games there doesn’t mean I wasn’t loved. For me, I want to make sure I contribute to the success of the team, I want to play football and regain my confidence, I want to play in the national team.”