Browsing the South African market? Former Orlando Pirates coach Fadlu Davids opens the door for Premier Soccer League talent at Raja Casablanca amid the January window

With the Botola Pro season gathering momentum and pressure mounting on Raja Casablanca to keep pace with the league’s frontrunners, head coach Fadlu Davids and his technical team have begun intensifying their search for reinforcements. The former Orlando Pirates mentor has opened up about the club’s recruitment structures, revealing that their scouting lens remains wide, and that South Africa continues to feature prominently in their considerations.

Davids is no stranger to identifying and elevating Premier Soccer League talent. During his spell at Simba SC, he successfully lured Mamelodi Sundowns duo Neo Maema and Rushine De Reuck to Tanzania, a move that underscored his belief in the quality and adaptability of South African players. His commitment to creating pathways for local talent to break into broader African football has not waned, and his latest comments suggest that the door remains firmly open for PSL stars capable of meeting Raja’s demands.

“Yes, I will always be. We are looking on all areas of the world, and we’re not closed to South Africa,” he said during a recent online conversation with the South African Football Journalists Association (SAFJA).

“It’s definitely a market that I know when you have two options, say, where one option may be a player you worked with, or a player you know, or a player you know the personality, where they will adapt to Morocco, because Morocco is also a different league, a different environment, where there’s no English, it’s French and Arabic,” he continued.

“And these are all the criteria you make when signing. There are certain players from the PSL that will not be able to adapt to the league, and there are certain players that will.

“These are all the criteria we make. And yes, if there’s an opportunity and a player that is available and is willing to come and that fits into our criteria, we will definitely look at it.

“And these are the our recruitment meetings with our sporting director and the President and the board in relation to finding the perfect players to come in and not to only add depth into the squad, but to immediately affect the starting line-up. And it’s a certain type of player that needs to be recruited for January. 

“You don’t really find the right players with the right mentality to come in and immediately impact your squad, and that is what we needed, so a very meticulous process into signing the right player for the club, within the right position, with the right mentality to be able to handle the pressures of big club like Raja, but also to be able to help us take that step to get back into Champions League,” Davids concluded.

With Davids having made his intentions clear, not only from his own perspective but as a reflection of Raja Casablanca’s broader recruitment strategy, the message is bound to resonate back home. 

His openness effectively widens the pathway for South African players who are eager to test themselves beyond the country’s borders, inviting renewed curiosity from those looking to challenge their game in a new environment on the African stage.

The Moroccan giants have entered their mid‑season pause as the Africa Cup of Nations takes centre stage, with the tournament officially kicking off on Sunday, December 21. While the rest of the league momentarily slows, the South African tactician is wasting no time. 

Davids and his technical team have set up camp in Saudi Arabia, using the break to fine‑tune their structures, sharpen their squad and prepare meticulously for a demanding second half of the campaign.