Pitso Mosimane has confirmed he’s received offers to return to football and admitted he holds a clear desire to win the Africa Cup of Nations.
Mosimane, 58, has been unattached since June after walking away from Al Ahly where he won back-to-back CAF Champions League titles, which further enhanced his reputation as one of the finest coaches in African football history.
With 18 major titles to his name following stints with Ahly, Mamelodi Sundowns and SuperSport United at club level he admits he won’t just jump into any new job, given the fact that he left the Red Devils where there’s the foundation for immediate success.
“We always have offers, the holdback was for me to take a little of a break, to be honest, I needed a break, [over] 21 years I always talked about the sabbatical that I never took,” Mosimane said in reference to his time out the game.
“Now I’ve got my chance. I don’t know, I feel good and happy to be home. The feet will always itch, it needs to be the right project.
“You don’t leave the team you know will go to the Champions League final with – that you’ve done it with three times in a row and takes you to the [FIFA Club] World Cup, that will mix you with the Bayern’s and Chelsea’s, Palmeiras’, it’s another level.
“You don’t just leave that team… of course, you need a break. You don’t just leave that team and suddenly go anywhere else, so what’s in it for you?”
Mosimane, whose national team experience with Bafana Bafana ended on an ill-fated note, concedes the only trophy that now eludes him on the continent is the AFCON and that’s something that he could be open to chasing. However, the conditions of the job should be aligned with his ambitions and not something hopeful from a football federation.
“Yes, offers are there, but it must be the right project, I’m open, even [to] national team [offers], why not? Maybe the only thing I haven’t won on the continent is the AFCON. You know what I’m trying to say… so let’s do the AFCON maybe,” he said.
“I can be on the continent, but I need a project that somewhere, somehow people must feel it, they must want it and say this is what we want to achieve. If you want to win the Champions League, you must show you want it.
“There’s no problem [for me] to go to a team here in Africa that’s never won, I have no problem going there if they want to win it. I know what it takes to win it. So you have to be a part of that, you can’t just say you want to win it.
“When I say teams, I don’t just mean clubs. Even the national teams, if you are a team that wants to win it and has been struggling to win it and I’m eager to win, then we’re the right people me and you.
“I got a few offers [from national teams], but I think they just want to close a gap because they don’t have a coach somewhere, I don’t want that, you need to show me you want to win it, when you want to win it and the steps you want to take.”
Pitso Opens Up On Ahly Return Talks
