AL-Ahli coach Pitso Mosimane has poured cold water on the speculation that his Saudi Arabian club are negotiating with Orlando Pirates attacking midfielder Thembinkosi Lorch.
The former 2019 South African Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season has not featured for the Buccaneers since August last year and there has been speculation and reports that he is going to be sold in this January transfer window period.
“If Al-Ahli wants Thembinkosi Lorch, me and Chairman Khoza would be the first people to know that, and nobody will know until Orlando Pirates announce the deal been done.If the news are true, then I am not aware of that,” Mosimane said on Twitter.
When Mosimane was still coaching Al Ahly of Egypt, there was a lot of speculation that linked Lorch to the Red Devils but nothing materialised.
Riveiro has been at pains trying to deal with Lorch’s absence since his last appearance for Bucs. The club released a statement that Lorch was expected to be “back at the end of January”.
Before Pirates’ 2-0 loss to Mamelodi the Buccaneers released a statement: “He is on track to rejoin his teammates for most of the second half of the season.”
But even after the statement, there has been a veil of secrecy around the matter from the club, the player and the coach. “I don’t speak about injured players or individual players, it’s the same like in the beginning of the season,” Riveiro told journalists.
Lorch has scored 30 goals and registered 19 assists in 155 games for the Buccaneers since joining the club from Maluti FET College in 2015.
Al-Ahli fans are calling for Mosimane to sign Brazilian Marcao Amaral, who plays as a striker and a goal-scoring machine for China Super League club Wuhan Three Towns. They are also pleading with Mosimane to sign Hany Mukhtar who plays for Nashville SC in the US MLS and also former Bafana Bafana forward Thulani Serero.
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