Here is the story: His name is Relebogile Ratomo, he is a 17-year-old forward who has scored seven goals for Orlando Pirates DDC team in fifteen matches.
Not only does he score goals, he provides assists as if they are going out of fashion, with a whopping twelve in total.
He has been voted man of the match four times in the process. Surely, those are marks of a top talent, and the youngsters’ efforts have not gone unnoticed by Riveiro and his technical team.
Ratomo has been training with the senior team, and things look promising for him.
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But the fact of the matter is: One Boitumelo Radiopane, not so long ago, was in Ratomo’s position, taunted as the next big thing at Orlando Pirates, until he was shipped out.
Radiopane is currently on loan at Cape Town Spurs, doing what he should be doing for his parent club, which is scoring goals.
Judging by what a source close to the player and the club told The Citizen, Ratomo might go Radiopane’s route.
“The plan was to introduce him in the Nedbank Cup, but the coaches had second thoughts about it,” a source told The Citizen.
“They like what they see from him; hence he was invited to train with the big boys. He has the potential to become a star, but you know there is a lot of monitoring that has to happen when it comes to teenage footballers in the country, they lose focus quickly.
“He is a humble boy who works very hard; I just hope that he carries himself that way throughout his football career.
“That will help achieve his goals; the nice thing is that the coach is very happy with what he sees in him. There are just some minor things he needs to learn and once he gets that we will see more of him in the senior team. I hear that they will keep on calling him to train with the first team so that he can be able to get used to that level of intensity and pressure.”
In a nutshell: Orlando Pirates seem reluctant to give their top development products an opportunity to prove themselves with the senior team.
They prefer to send them out on loan, if not, they disappear into the lower ranks of South African football.
And that is such a shame when you consider the amount of talent Pirates has been able to produce through their development ranks, they should be having at least five of them as senior team regulars by now.
All they need is a chance to prove themselves, they dream of wearing the black and white in the Dstv Premiership, hopefully Ratomo will be given an opportunity to establish himself as Saleng’s partner in crime.
And the fans think: “Yes we Need to develop them at an early age so they understand the tactics of psl and gain experience, imagine how good will he be after 2 seasons if his given game time!” @Podolskithato.
“We don’t want another Radiopane story, give him a chance, via Bo Erasmus are shooting blanks,” @SalimMathomane.
“Yes, especially in the Nedbank Cup game,” @therealabdi.
