Former SA junior international Athenkosi Dlala back in the picture

Former SA junior international Athenkosi Dlala has found a new home in the Motsepe Foundation Championship. 

Dlala was shown the door in the middle of the season while still at Baroka. His departure raised eyebrows as concerns grew regarding his off-field antics. 

The 24-year-old has now joined Pretoria-based side Pretoria Callies and featured in all their three opening matches of the season. 

“Athi is a good player. There’s no way a player can play for South Africa U/20, U23, and Bafana, and he is not a good player,” Callies head coach Kwanele Kopo told the media after their 3-1 defeat by Baroka in Lebowakgomo on Wednesday. 

“If you look at the team, it has very young players. It’s a new team, after all. We have decided on the challenges (financially) that the team faced last season and everything (COVID-19 challenges). 

“So we decided to take a decision to rebuild the team and run a team that is financially manageable. Everybody wants to win the league.

“It doesn’t mean if you throw money at it, you will win the league. So, Athi plays well. He did very well today, especially in the second half. He completely controlled the centre of the midfield,” added Kopo. 

“We expect him to give us those performances even though the pitch was a little bit bumpy and not really able to play a free flowing football.

“But he comes with a lot of experience and boasts good technical ability even though it’s going to take a little bit of time for the players to gel as we started training late because the team was on sale and it turns out the team is no longer on sale.”

Dlala spent most of his career at the University of Pretoria before his much publicized move to Baroka last season.