SuperSport United coach Kaitano Tembo says defender Bongani Khumalo’s healthy lifestyle and true professionalism is what led the club to extend the veteran’s contract.
The 2019/20 MTN8 winning manager says the departure of skipper Dean Furman also pushed the club to retain the former Bafana Bafana defender as they looked to maintain the spine of the side.
Matsatsantsa exercised a one-year option on the 33-year-old’s deal and his agent Glyn Binkin confirmed the news to Goal on Friday. Tembo hopes the former Tottenham Hotspur defender will continue to guide his youngsters.
“Yeah, we’ve taken the option to extend his contract. I think he’s still important to us in terms of guiding the youngsters in the team,” Tembo told Goal.
“He’s very experienced and he’s a true professional as well. He plays a very important role in terms of guiding some of our players, that’s why we’ve taken that option.
“Most definitely [Furman’s departure also influenced our decision], I think you always want to have a little bit of your spine, a strong backbone in the team.
"As much as you want to bring in youngsters, you also want to try and make sure you’ve got the right players to guide them and Bongani fits that criteria very well.
“And because he’s a true professional, he’s one who lives a healthy lifestyle and he’s one where the youngsters can learn from and that’s why we want to continue with him.”
The lanky centre-back will spend his third consecutive campaign with the Tshwane giants and Tembo looks back at his first encounter with the former University of Pretoria player.
“Yeah, I’ve known Bongani for many years since he arrived at the club when he was 19 from Tuks, and he went on to go to Europe and played for Tottenham,” he added.
“I think he’s a true reflection of what we want for our youngsters to aspire and to also learn from.”
The former Bafana Bafana centre-back launched his top-flight career with the three-time PSL champions back in 2007 from AmaTuks as a 20-year-old.
Taking a look at his contribution this current season, the Manzini-born player has participated in 15 games across all competitions and recently said his ambition is to lift his fifth PSL title, his fourth with the club.
Having four PSL gold medals next to his name, Khumalo will be a key figure as Tembo looks to guide the club to a decent finish should they fail to challenge log leaders, Kaizer Chiefs for the lucrative crown.
As things stand, they sit fourth on the log table with 40 points and trail Amakhosi by eight points since the season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic in March.
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