Orlando Pirates, somewhat surprisingly, let Thabiso Sesane leave the club this week. Was this foolish or a calculated move by the board?
Is there a method to the Orlando Pirates board’s madness?
In a somewhat surprising turn of events, Pirates have elected to release central defender Thabiso Sesane. The 26-year-old was a mainstay in the first half of the 2024-25 campaign, but a serious injury in 2025-26 meant that he didn’t make a single league appearance in Pirates’ title-winning campaign. Have the board exercised some tough love and decided that Sesane won’t be able to get back to his best? Is this also evidence of their belief in 20-year-old Cristian Derbyshire’s readiness to step up into the first team fold?
Meet Orlando Pirates’ new defensive star
Cristian Derbyshire is one of six new faces training with the Orlando Pirates first team. The 20-year-old central defender has impressed technical staff with his cultured left foot and physical presence. Derbyshire was called up to South Africa’s 33-man squad for the 2028 Olympic Games qualifiers. Left foot and physical presence, you say? That reminds us of someone.
Why is Mbokazi on the Napoli wish list?
Mbekezeli Mbokazi is a physically gifted central defender with crisp distribution skills and an ability to bring the ball out of defence. Mbokazi makes up for his lack of height with electric recovery speed. He has the potential to become a truly elite defender in a system deploying three centre-backs, if picked alongside one (or two) taller players. Like Lisandro Martinez at Man United, Mbokazi is superb one-on-one with a low centre of gravity. This means that his relative aerial weakness isn’t much of an issue.