Former South Africa youth international Japie Motale has weighed in on Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos' stance regarding young local talents moving overseas.
Motale believes that Broos must acknowledge the importance of South African players gaining international experience rather than discouraging their transfers.
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Broos was initially critical of Cassius Mailula's 2023 move from Mamelodi Sundowns to Toronto FC in the MLS, which seemingly led to the forward being overlooked for national team selection.
Now, with Orlando Pirates' rising star Relebohile Mofokeng attracting foreign interest, concerns are growing over Broos' views on such moves.
"He can go to Belgium, he can go to Holland, he can go to France, (and) he can go to Portugal. Not immediately in a big team, but (he doesn't) have to go to Italy, for example. You don't have to go to Germany," Broos said recently, in discussing Mofokeng's potential move, speaking to the media.
Motale insists that young players like Mofokeng must take these opportunities while they can, emphasising that competing abroad enhances their skills and financial stability.
He argues that South Africa must embrace player exports as part of its football development strategy and that Broos should align with this vision rather than resisting it.
"This boy (Mofokeng) will be ready, and the others, they must go," said Motale, speaking exclusively to the Siya crew.
"But as a coach, you can also be given a mandate, isn't that so? I don't know what mandate was given to him (Broos), but we can also tell him that, 'Look, from time to time we will be sending players overseas, and you will need to understand that.'
"We can tell him that as part our plans as South Africa to see our young stars grow and gaining experience, we need to have them competing with some of the best players overseas. We have to tell him that he needs stop with this thing of his that when our players move overseas it becomes a problem for him," added Motale.
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"We need to sit him down, because one man can't overrule this team. Otherwise, it would seem like he wants these players to all be stuck in South Africa, and we can't keep going this way. Football is a short career, and players need to make use of the opportunities they get while they still can. I'm sure you'd know that most of our players who never played overseas didn't make a lot of money because of the lack of opportunities or missed opportunities of making money. But also, it's not only about making money, but improving the football," concluded Motale.
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