Continued doubts on whether a R38 million-valued striker is good enough for Bafana Bafana could play a big role on his next move, following strong links with Mamelodi Sundowns.
Cape Town City marksman Khanyisa Mayo was heavily linked with a move to the Brazilians last season after he finished the 2022/23 campaign as joint-top goal-scorer with Peter Shalulile on 12 goals.
Despite reports of the Tshwane giants leading the race for his signature, the 25-year-old remained at City, even landing a long-term contract.
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The son of Kaizer Chiefs legend Patrick, who is also on the wish-list of Amakhosi, as per admission by the management, has continued to score goals in the DStv Premiership and is currently the second leading goal-scorer with nine goals, one shy of leader Lucas Ribeiro Costa of Downs.
After being called-up in the Bafana squad scheduled for FIFA Series international friendly matches against Andorra and Algeria, head coach Hugo Broos explained that the reason he had not called Mayo up prior to that was because he felt his presence was not felt when on the pitch and gave him a chance because of injuries.
"I found that Mayo really sometimes (drifts) out of the game, you're looking at him and you don't see him. He's there but no action, nothing. You can't be like that as a striker, certainly not at the level we're playing," Broos explained to the media after he announced his squad.
Mayo was handed a start against Andorra last Thursday and after a 1-1 draw with the 164th-ranked nation, where Elias Mokwana scored the goal for Bafana to equalize, the Belgian suggested that South Africa has a striker crisis.
"I think it showed again a problem for South African football, we don't really have that scorer, the guy who has one chance (and) scores the goal. If you see six, seven chances we had and we only scored once," Broos said after the draw against Andorra.
With all these question marks on Mayo, Sundowns' technical team and analysts could be a lot thorough and critical while profiling the 25-year-old, especially after City Chairman John Comitis valued him at $2 million (+-R38 million) at the end of last season.
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The Brazilians play a highly intensive game and reportedly pulled out of a deal to sign Lars Veldwijk because the Bafana striker does not have attributes to press high up the pitch.
"I think in the end, sanity prevailed because the technical team was divided over the possibility of signing Lars. Sundowns press high up and they needed someone who is mobile and didn’t mind being the first line of defence, like Peter Shalulile," a source was quoted, per the Citizen.
"They didn’t agree on his (Veldwijk) transfer because some members of the team felt that he would not be able to adapt to their style of play and the demanding work rate it requires. Ultimately, they signed Tashreeq (Matthews)," the source added.
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