Even though they are rivals, Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns seem to enjoy a special relationship on player transfers, after a revelation by former Buccaneers midfielder Oupa Manyisa.
Pirates fans have previously left to rue their best players such as the late Gift Leremi, Lebohang Mokoena, Teko Modise and recently Thembinkosi Lorch, leaving the Soweto giants in surprise transfers to Sundowns.
The aforementioned players were usually shipped to the Tshwane giants after reports of lack of discipline emerged at the Soweto giants.
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The likes of Mokoena and Modise had issues with former coach Ruud Krol, who had sidelined them while Lorch also had off-the-field incidents and injuries that limited his game-time at the Buccaneers before his move to Masandawana.
However, Manyisa has refuted suggestions that he was released by Pirates in 2017 to Sundowns for disciplinary issues, after he revealed that his departure was an order he got from chairman Irvin Khoza, who felt he had done all he could for the Soweto giants.
"I didn't want to leave Pirates. I got a call from the chairman [Khoza], he said 'Please come to the office'. I sat down with him in the office, he was on a call with Patrice Motsepe. When I came in, they gave me a phone and said 'Mr Motsepe wants to talk to you'," Manyisa related the story on Smash Sports YouTube Channel.
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"They [Pirates officials] said to me, 'You know we love you but you know that now is time'. I asked the Chairman and he said to me, 'You're going that side [Sundowns]'. Remember Pitso [Mosimane] has been chasing me since 2014, 2015. So I think the Chairman thought it was the right time.
"It's not me [who wanted to leave], they [supporters] must go to the chairman. You don't question the Chairman. When the Chairman says 'We go right', we go right. [But] there's no hard feelings," the retired midfielder added.
'Ace' was part of the much celebrated Pirates squad that won the double treble in the 2010/11 and 2011/12 seasons.
