I am curious. About what, you ask? Well, Sipho Mbule. That’s who I’m curious about. Why?
Because, in case you have just returned from Mars or had your head buried in the sand for the last few days, Mbule put pen to paper and signed a contract to make Orlando Pirates his new home.
So what’s the big deal? Players change clubs every season, don’t they? Right. But this is different. Hold on. Before you ask how, please indulge me.
At Pirates, Mbule — one of seven new recruits revealed by the club this week — is joining his fourth professional club of his elite career. SuperSport United was his first platform in the pro ranks. The club from the capital snapped him up from the Harmony Sports Academy in the Free State. But the career of the boy from Bethlehem has been everything but harmonious, meandering into unproductive offramps.
As a prodigy bristling with fertile genius to win matches with singlehanded strokes of inventiveness, Mbule has not blossomed into the midfield maestro his early years promised.
As has been the case before he became the property of SuperSport, Mbule joined the long list of players recruited by crosstown rivals Mamelodi Sundowns — a club with a bigger budget, competing on a bigger stage and chasing bigger dreams.
Glimpses of creative juice
It was a perfect platform for him to become a Picasso by using the mellow yellow canvas to paint a picture worthy of his pigskin artistry, for all the world to witness what he’s really made of. A chance to see whether what we saw at under-20 and under-23 national teams were but glimpses of the catalogue of his creative juices.
What Mbule showed us at Sundowns were just highlights of the incredible intelligence he is imbued with.
Nowadays, people who preach on the pulpit of football testify about the Ryan Gravenberch turn as the best in the business. Indeed, the Dutchman, who turned 23 last week, delivers a delectable touch and turn that leave the opponent as stunned as the spectator.
If you’ve seen Mbule — who turns 28 in March — in action, you’d know he has that and much more, by way of skill, in his remarkable repertoire. Flashes of his undeniable talent and unmatched football intellect were also evident at Sekhukhune United.
Therein lies the rub. These were glimpses, flashes, and highlights, not the full bouquet worthy of a binge party. It is behaviour that’s unfathomable, this penchant for self-destructing with off-field distractions at odds with the life of a professional footballer.
Despite his well-documented ill-discipline, he has again been granted a chance to change his air and colours on board the Buccaneers ship. Has the penny dropped?
Mbule knows more than anyone that he should have been part of the under-23 national team that played at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021. Those of us who have eaten from the palm of his hand believe he should be bossing the Bafana Bafana midfield alongside his “twin” from Harmony Academy, Teboho Mokoena.
Mbule has been left behind, while Mokoena has clocked many milestones, gobbling individual awards galore. The twin is among the consistent names Hugo Broos announces when he names his Bafana squads.
Compliments v contempt
The two players are the talk of the town but, regrettably, hog headlines for varying reasons. Mokoena for compliments. Mbule for contempt.
Some have said Pirates supremo Irvin Khoza will have a stern talking to with Mbule, to remind him to embrace his talent. Not even the Iron Duke can force a horse (Mbule) to drink water if it does not want to.
Sometimes, in life, a person needs to have a conversation with himself to will himself forward. I wonder whether Mbule gets that there are millions of football followers across the club spectrum who wish him well.
More worryingly, I wonder if he wishes himself well. If he does, he will grab this latest lifeline with both hands, turn around his lifestyle and let his fantastic footballing do the talking.
I am curious whether Mbule is conversant with the fact that second chances are rare, that at some stage the door will stop revolving.
My musings about Mbule are the source of my curiosity.
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