In 2002, a 16-year-old Junior Khanye almost signed for Pitso Mosimane for a signing on fee of R50 000…
‘Ghetto Ninja‘ the book of iDiskiTV analyst Junior Khanye, written by Nikolaos Kirkinis, who also wrote Teko Modise’s book, is finally out in the stores and iDiski Times got their hands on a few copies already.
To share some of excitement around ‘Ghetto Ninja‘, we will be bringing you a few of the stories of Khanye’s life. First up, the day Junior almost signed for Pitso…
Just before he left Amakhosi, former Kaizer Chiefs development coach Farouk Khan advised Junior Khanye to train with Chiefs’ U23 team. Junior follows his orders and begins training with the U23s.
About halfway through his first training session coach Vincent Williams pulls Junior to the side, “Hey boy, who said you can come here? You are still a small boy – you need to be in school. Go back and train with the little ones.”
Junior fights back tears of frustration. He feels he is ready enough to make it in the big leagues. Other clubs have seen or heard of the promising Kaizer Chiefs youth product from Daveyton.
Pitso Mosimane is a fresh and budding coach from SuperSport United and asks about the Junior Khanye boy. The next day, a delegation from SuperSport descends on the street of Daveyton. The men in blue tracksuits do their best to charm the Junior’s parents.
They speak about Junior’s future at Matsatsantsa, the money he will make, the goals he will score and the trophies he will lift. They are offering a signing on fee of R50 000. For a student who earns R350 in monthly allowance, the numbers presented by SuperSport sound like music to Junior’s ears.
However, he only has one request in order for him to be convinced to join the Tshwane club: “I am a footballer– I don’t want to go to school and I don’t want to be forced to go to school,” he said.
“No one is going to force you to do anything Junior.” Junior smiles and nods in approval… “I want to sign” he says.
Junior’s parents, though, were not convinced by the offer and also didn’t like that their son only wanted to focus on football without his education and they made the hard decision to keep Junior in Kaizer Chiefs’ youth structures, signing a five-year development contract, meaning the young Pitso Mosimane missed out on working with Khanye…
You can read to the end of this story as well as many more in Junior Khanye’s new book: Ghetto Ninja, which is available for R250 in South African book stores.
