SuperSport United captain Thulani Hlatshwayo has revealed the one time he had a door opened for an opportunity to go on trial at Ajax Amsterdam, but he had already signed a pre-contract with Bidvest Wits.
Having come through the ranks at Ajax Cape Town (now Cape Town Spurs), Hlatshwayo was one of the young prospects tipped to succeed and, naturally, Ajax Amsterdam took note of his talent and were keen on giving him an opportunity to impress their technical team.
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At the time, Thulani Serero was already in Amsterdam as a player for the Dutch giants and was able to provide some valuable information to Hlatshwayo, who is affectionately known as 'Tyson'.
"Serero was still at Ajax Amsterdam at the time. I remember (Marc) Overmars coming to Ajax Cape Town for one of his visits. At the time, I had already signed a pre-contract with Bidvest Wits and they wanted me to sign a document which was like an invitation for trials (at Ajax Amsterdam)," Hlatshwayo said to the Siya crew.
"I had a discussion with Thulani and he told me that they had about three or four trialists from Colombia and they were much younger than me. And like I say, I had already signed a pre-contract with Bidvest Wits and I did not want to conflict everything."
Hlatshwayo, however, does not have any regrets about not making a move overseas and there a few reasons for that. Winning the Premiership title with Bidvest Wits, playing for the club he grew up supporting Orlando Pirates and captaining Bafana Bafana are just some of the achievements he looks at and pats himself on the back.
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"Not really (no regrets). Everyone has their own path in life. And I've played with guys who went overseas and they came back, like (Bongani) Zungu, (Lebogang) Manyama, (Andile) Jali and (Kermit) Erasmus. I have stayed locally and when I look at what I have achieved and the games I played with the teams I have been to and the games I played for Bafana Bafana, I am proud of what I achieved. Regret not going overseas? Not really."
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