Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has opened up on the prospect of Monnapule Saleng contending for the Player of the Season award.
Saleng's form for Pirates continued after he scored a hat-trick in the 4-1 win over Swallows and took his tally for the season to eight goals in the league, equal with Mamelodi Sundowns forward Cassius Mailula and just one goal behind Sundowns' Peter Shalulile and Bradley Grobler of SuperSport United, who are both tied on nine goals, in the DStv Premiership scoring charts.
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There has been talk that the 24-year old has already done enough to be among the contenders for Player of the Season and Footballer of the Season accolades and Riveiro says although individual awards are secondary to him, he would be "so happy" if one of his players get the award.
"Personally I really see this game like a collective, so I'm not really… even if I get a trophy it's not for me, it's for the team, the coaching staff, we're working together," Riveiro said in a press conference.
"Individual awards in football, I understand the meaning, I understand it's attractive, it's always gonna be for the one who assists, because he's the beauty of the game and it's gonna be difficult that trophy is going to a centre-back for whatever reason.
"So if one of my players gets a trophy, I'm so happy for him because it means the team is getting the benefits of that individual's contribution, we need that as well," he said.
The Spanish mentor went on and admitted that it would be good for Pirates if Saleng wins one of the major PSL individual awards at the end of the season.
"Like I said, our job is to help them to play good football together, which is not that easy. There's many cases, probably we have many names of teams with a lot of talent that they don't manage to play well," he said.
"That's the difficulty of the task but individually, like I said it's good for the player because he's gonna be good for the future and hope that one that you mention (Saleng) can fight with any other player in our squad for that prize because it's gonna be a good thing for Pirates and that's what matters," he added.
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