With no regular game time, Fortune Makaringe is rumoured to be staring the exit at Pirates.
Before Makaringe moved to Orlando Pirates from Maritzburg United at the beginning of 2019/20 season, he formed a great partnership with Siphesihle Ndlovu and Lebohang Maboe.
The three led the Team of Choice to the Nedbank Cup final, the club’s maiden final, but lost to Free State Stats in the 2017/18 season. But the football displayed under coach, Fadlu Davids at the time, in his first spell at the club, captured the hearts of the people, even dumping Mamelodi Sundowns out in the semi-final of the Nedbank Cup. They then finished fourth in the league, the club’s highest finish in the PSL era.
However, the team was dismantled the following transfer windows, with Maboe leaving to join Sundowns at the beginning of 2018/19 season, while Makaringe and Ndlovu followed by joining Pirates in the following season.
He came in as a highly rated midfielder but two years down the line the player is yet to fully live up to expectations. Pirates find themselves blessed with an oversupply of midfielders and the word is that, as things stand right now, come the end of the season, Maringa could find himself available for transfer or be allowed to leave on loan.
Earlier last year he was asked why his game has not improved at Pirates at an Adidas store activation, and this is what he had to say.
“It’s football, where I was before and where I’m right now, it’s not the same. The expectations here and where I was before are not the same. In football when you play and you grow, there are challenges you do face that you end up questioning them,” Fortune Makaringe
“It might happen that others see that I’m not as outstanding as I was in the previous team, but at the same time I have matured better than where I was before and the way we play in this team is not the same and expectations are not the same.
“The mandate we have at Pirates is not the same as at Maritzburg. I can say for example that at Maritzburg it was mostly about surviving relegation but at Pirates it is about winning trophies.
“Maybe, if I can look myself in the mirror, I’ll say I have improved hugely because I can play everywhere at Pirates, whereas at Maritzburg I was playing in specific positions.”
Makaringe has only managed 10 appearances in all competitions with one assist in the DStv Premiership and with another midfielder, Makhehlene Makaula joining the Buccaneers too, he has fallen down the pecking order.
