Ayanda Patosi can't wait to play in the same team with Teko Modise

Ayanda Patosi is relishing the chance to play alongside Teko Modise and also in his home town after returning from Belgium to play for Cape Town City.

He is set to make his debut on Saturday when City take on Polokwane City in their MTN8 quarter-final at the Cape Town Stadium.

“Teko was a role model for me when he was playing at Orlando Pirates‚" Patosi says.

"I was a kid at the academy then. Now I get the chance to play with him in the same team. It feels great! To have players like him‚ (Lehlohonolo) Majoro and the other guys I used to watch on TV.”

Patosi is back after six years at Lokeren where he went as an 18-year-old from the Cape Town-based ASD Academy.

“It’s really exciting to play in front of my home crowd. I’ve played there one or twice before with the national team and even scored (against Angola in a friendly in June 2015).

"Now I get the chance to play for City. My family will be in the stadium‚ the Khayelitsha people are coming also. It’s really exciting and I’m looking forward to it.”

Patosi said he had been warmly welcomed.

“All the new players immediately felt they were part of a family.”

His reputation as a ‘bad boy’ in Belgium has reached South African shores but he has a chance to prove doubters wrong.

He says his ambitions for the season are to try and achieve some individual awards and “help the team do well”.

“The most important is that when the team is doing well I can get back in the Bafana Bafana team.”

The 24-year-old has never played in the Premier Soccer League before but has 12 caps for Bafana Bafana‚ although he was dropped last year by former coach Shakes Mashaba.

Patosi says the pace of football in South Africa is quicker than in Belgium and also the technical ability of the players around him is vastly improved.

“You don’t have players with as much ability over there.”

- TimesLIVE