Ouaddou Hails Mofokeng As A “Once-In-A-Decade” Talent

Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has lauded the remarkable resurgence of starlet Relebohile Mofokeng, describing the playmaker as a rare talent that emerges only once every 10 to 15 years.

After a testing start to the 2025/26 campaign, the 21-year-old has rediscovered the scintillating form that earned him last season’s Young Player of the Season award. Mofokeng has become the heartbeat of the Buccaneers’ title charge, racking up nine goals and five assists in the Betway Premiership so far.

His dominance is reflected in the individual accolades; Mofokeng currently leads the league’s Man of the Match standings with six awards—two clear of Kaizer Chiefs’ Lebohang Maboe and Sekhukhune United’s Bright Ndlovu.

The academy graduate’s recent output has been nothing short of clinical. He followed a sensational hat-trick against TS Galaxy with a clinical brace in Tuesday’s 5-0 routing of Golden Arrows. This red-hot streak also earned him two consecutive Player of the Month titles.

While Ouaddou generally prioritizes the collective, he admitted that Mofokeng’s technical ceiling is unique.

“Look, I don’t like to speak about individual players,” he said.

“For me, I always say that individual qualities should be at the service of the collective project. These individualities should carry the club project. But as you asked me that question, this kind of player you get every 10 or 15 years.

“He has talent, it is in his blood, he is still young, and of course, we have to give him some instructions to be more efficient, especially in areas where there are a lot of duels.

“He is often crowded, so for us as coaches, the talent he has, the technical quality he has, the intelligence he has – sometimes when you have such qualities, you can overuse them.

“Our job is to make him aware of the zones where he can express himself. He can use his dribbling, but there are some strategic areas on the pitch where he needs to limit his touches and use his cleverness.

“This is what he has been doing in a lot of games, and you can see that he can give assists to his teammates and also score.

“He is very mobile in the middle, so I usually say that it is a shame to keep him wide on the touchline with only 180 degrees of possibilities, because this kind of player needs 360 degrees of freedom to express himself.

“So, I don’t think he can only play as a number 10 – I think he can play everywhere, but not as a defender.”

The Moroccan mentor also highlighted the team’s overall motivation and work ethic as key factors behind their recent goal-scoring form, having netted 11 goals in their last two matches.

“Something very important in football is motivation, in terms of how you come every morning to training and give effort, because we are asking a lot from them,” he added.

“If you see the intensity that Pirates are playing with this season, we don’t expect that intensity to start a day before the match, but from the beginning of our work. Every training session is very intense, and we want to replicate match conditions so that we are not surprised on matchday.

“If your body is not ready to compete and you only switch on late in the week, it is already too late. You have to apply yourself from the beginning of the week until the last training session to ensure your body is ready for tough games.

“It is important for the players to see that the demands of the week are translating onto the pitch. When they see results, it builds trust and encourages them to keep working.

“For them it is good, but for us as well it is important because if players work hard during the week and don’t see results, even as a coach you can lose trust. And if you lose the confidence of the players, it is over.”

Pirates will now turn their attention to their next league encounter against Richards Bay at a sold-out Umhlathuze Sports Complex on Friday evening.

With Mofokeng in red-hot form, the Buccaneers will be aiming to maintain their attacking momentum and extend their impressive run of results.