Cape Town City confirm Orlando Pirates held talks over Emille Witbooi

Cape Town City chairman John Comitis has confirmed that Orlando Pirates made contact over a possible move for teenage attacking midfielder Emille Witbooi during the most recent transfer window.

The Buccaneers’ interest intensified after the departure of Relebohile Mofokeng, with Pirates considering Witbooi as a potential addition to their squad. However, Cape Town City rejected the offer because they did not believe it reflected the value of the 18-year-old.

Reports in the local media suggested that City were seeking a fee of between R18 million and R20 million for the player.

Witbooi was reportedly keen on joining the Soweto club, viewing Orlando Pirates as an ideal route towards a future move overseas. Cape Town City nevertheless chose to retain him, with the club believing a more suitable offer could still emerge.

“We decided to keep Emile Witbooi to assist us this season, there is still a lot of interest, we may still do something before the end of the season,” Comitis told KickOff.

“We saw a lot of media frenzy in the kid, we were very happy to listen to offers, we did speak to Orlando Pirates, but nothing materialised.”

Comitis said City are now concentrating on Witbooi’s contribution to their promotion challenge rather than pursuing another transfer.

“At this stage we are very focused to keep him here so that he can assist with the promotion battle,” he added. “Everybody knows the value of the player, and we will get the value, we are not concerned about that.”

The chairman said the club were satisfied with the current state of the squad and did not expect further movement at this stage.

“The team is settled now, there is nothing happening, we just focusing on matches game by game now,” he said. “We will see how it goes, one game at a time.”