SuperSport United captain Thulani Hlatshwayo has praised the club’s transfer window business ahead of the new Premier Soccer League season.

Matsantsantsa has strengthened their squad with the signings of Pogiso Sanoka from TS Galaxy, Vincent Pule from Orlando Pirates, and Nyiko Mobbie and Ricardo Goss from Mamelodi Sundowns (permanent and loan respectively).

Additionally, coach Gavin Hunt and his technical team have been handed two-year contract extensions, while Hlatshwayo has extended his stay with the club by a year. Despite losing key players like Shandre Campbell and Keegan Johannes, the 34-year-old defender is optimistic about the upcoming season due to the addition of experienced players.

“We have obviously lost quite a few players and we have also received a few experienced (players) who have been playing in the PSL for quite some time,” Hlatshwayo said.  

“I think the guys we have now when you look at who we’ve let go, Shandre Campbell and Keegan Johannes when you look at Pule and Mobbie, it’s a good replacement, guys who have much more international experience.  

“I think when it comes to depth too, we haven’t lost quite a few (in defence), Ime (Okon) is still around because last season we had a bit of a problem at the back whenever there was an injury, but now there’s a bit of a depth.” 

The new signings will be in action on Saturday when SuperSport aim to win their first MTN8 trophy since 2019/20, facing Pirates at Orlando Stadium (18:00). Hlatshwayo spent two seasons with Pirates, winning the Wafa Wafa Cup in the 2020/21 season before joining SuperSport and reunite with Hunt, who he also won the MTN8 in 2016/17 season.

The Tshwane-based outfit seeks to improve on their seventh-place finish last season. The former Bafana captain emphasized the importance of clean sheets and goal conversion. “As a team, we are not too happy with the position that we ended up in, because if you look at the first round of the league we were doing well, sitting there in the top three and top six and we finished at number seven,” he said.  

“The lessons are to keep the clean sheets and make sure that we take our chances. When I look at some of the games we have played, if we managed to keep clean sheets and score a single goal, it could have made a difference ball game on the log.”  

Article by Trevor Magoro