A dream debut season at Orlando Pirates might have catapulted Patrick 'Tito' Maswanganyi straight into contention for the Player of the Season award, but he is a man who has also not had it smooth before.
As is the norm with players coming out from Stars of Africa Academy, Maswanganyi took the flight to Europe before he had even played professional football at home.
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His destination in 2019 was Portugal and this was just after he had turned 21.
It was a move orchestrated by Nadime Mahmoud, who holds an executive committee position at the academy and has links across Europe, where he works as an agent.
Mahmoud spoke to this website from his base in Portugal.
"I was involved all the way from when he left the academy until he went back to South Africa," discloses Mahmoud.
"Tito was here in Portugal along with Genino Palace, who is also now playing in South Africa.
"When Tito came here in 2019, I facilitated his visa, tickets, accommodation, and we put him in a lower division club, Oliveirense, and from there went to Academica's U23 team, where he did well.
"He cannot complain that he didn't have food on his table, place to sleep or train while he was here, including special physiotherapists.
"Him coming here to Portugal was part of his development, which is why I put him in specialised training.
"Putting him at Oliveirense was all about getting used to the European system of playing football.
"He had come through Stars of Academy, but the switch to Europe can be different, which is why you need to come through from the lower leagues.
"He wasn't patient enough and focused into our objective while he was here [in Portugal], which is normal because players want to make money and feed their families, especially when you are in Europe.
"You don't just jump into the big teams here in Portugal the way you want, so you must go through the process.
"When you come here, you don't walk into the big contracts at the big clubs.
"He could have ultimately gotten there had he been patient.
"The issue here was that he wasn't earning anything better than what he was then offered to go back home.
"What matters for me is that the player has progressed to where he is now and I'm happy that we also played a role.
"He can put food on the table for his family and help them out with whatever situations they get to face.
"It gives me pride to hear that he is now amongst the players in contention to win the Player of the Season award while playing for Pirates in his first season.
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"Throughout all that has happened with Tito, what is important is that we should give credit to Farouk Khan for all the work that he puts in working with all these boys.
"I have never known of someone with the passion that Farouk has," says Mahmoud.
Maswanganyi already has 21 goal contributions in 37 appearances in all competitions for Pirates – where he has emerged as a crowd favourite.