Friction or fiction: 'I've never heard Tito's side...'

A former Orlando Pirates playmaker has offered his take on Patrick Maswanganyi’s recent departure from the club, which was accompanied by interesting comments from head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou.

To the shock of many, Maswanganyi earned a move to Bahrain outfit Al-Khaldiya SC last month, in a season where he was expected to play a more prominent role in the number 10 position following Relebohile Mofokeng’s move to Europe in the off-season.

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Ouaddou Opens Up on a Complicated Relationship

In the aftermath of this sudden development, Ouaddou took to explaining his relationship with the Tembisa-born star, which was perceived to be on-again, off-again. More so after the lanky gaffer was seen confronting 'Tito' with harsh words in one episode of Bucs Camp, Pirates' docu-series that aired on SuperSport TV.

“We had difficult moments last season. It took a bit of time for him to understand what I expect of him. In training, I always said the job doesn’t start in the game, it starts in training at the start of the week,” admitted Ouaddou, speaking to the media.

“I was not happy with how he was training, but I was happy with how he returned … fresh, in every training, full of energy. I think if he listened to me last season, he would have been at the World Cup, definitely.”

Liau's verdict: "Tito was a special boy"

Erstwhile midfield genius Thapelo Liau, who spent three seasons with Bucs between 2002 and 2005, believes the focus should rather be on who will fill the role going forward.

“Players come and go at Pirates, but there will always be a replacement. They can scout proper players. Tito was my favourite player; he was a special boy, and he was playing that role very well,” said the man affectionately known as ‘Abuti Bula Buti’, speaking to KickOff.

“But I don’t want to go deep into him and the coach because I don’t have the proper info in terms of what was happening there. I’ve never heard Tito’s side on what his issue with the coach was. I don’t like commenting on situations like that.

“But I met with Tito so many times, and I used to talk to him and encourage him that, as a number 10, you must know that your role is to create goals and score goals. You play to score. You must score goals because you go all over the world; the number 10s score goals.

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"I was happy to see him scoring goals, and for me, that was the most important thing. No matter how skilful you can be, the ultimate goal is to win, and you do that by scoring goals, and I saw him doing that.

"I really, really wish him all the best,” he went on. 

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Betway Premiership News Orlando Pirates Patrick Maswanganyi Thapelo Liau