‘I’ll speak to the owners’: Hlompho Kekana leaves door open for Sundowns return

Former Mamelodi Sundowns captain Hlompho Kekana has left the door for a sensational return to Chloorkop wide open but says it’s up to the owners of the club.

On Sunday, during halftime of the 1-0 DStv Premiership win over AmaZulu at Loftus, the Brazilians honoured their most successful captain who left the club earlier last year after 10 trophy-laden years with the Brazilians, and officially hung up his boots this year.

During his stay at Chloorkop Kekana led Sundowns to Caf Champions League glory and helped them to six Premier Soccer League (PSL) titles.

Kekana is one of the most decorated players in the Premier Soccer League with a total of eight league championships, having also won two titles at SuperSport United under Gavin Hunt.

“I must say that when I left the club the opportunity was there for me to be part of the team,” he said when asked if he would like to return to Downs in future.

“I will speak to the owners to check if the opportunity is still there — remember that was a year ago. If the opportunity is still there, wow, I will be a lucky guy from the village who has an offer that doesn’t expire.

“It is something I am working on. I have worked with many coaches who inspired me to be the person I was and am today.”

Kekana said he believes he could add a lot of value to the club, especially mentoring younger players so they don’t get derailed by the trappings of fame and fortune.

“There are so many things I have learnt in my career and one of them is to lead players and people. I was very fortunate I got that opportunity to lead here at Sundowns.

“One day I would like to lead the younger ones to let them know that this game we love is so fragile and at the same time unpredictable. I never predicted that I would be nominated for the Fifa Puskas [goal of the year] Award twice.

“When I got that email about the Puskas award, I was shocked. I showed it to my neighbour who is an Afrikaner guy and he was asking what is Fifa and I had to explain everything to him.

“It was beautiful to know Fifa knows Hlompho Kekana, the guy from the village. I believe the kids need to know that you can reach everything you want in life or anything is possible in life.

“You just have to put in the work and make sure you get the Right guidance. As a kid there are so many things I never experienced, like to be coached properly by people with the know-how.

“I made it this far with the guidance I received but today’s kids can make it with technology. I will be very fortunate and humbled to get that opportunity as a player who was at the club for long, but it is not given or guaranteed. You and I know that this is football and football continue to humble us.”

Kekana said being honoured by Sundowns was special, especially in front of his mother.

“Today was a special day for me simply because I brought my mom to the stadium to witness how special her son was to this team in terms of what I showed in my 10 years at the club.

“It was an honour to bring her to witness this, to feel the love from these people was something I will cherish for the rest of my life. We know the beautiful memories I shared with everyone in the team.

“The crazy goals, I call them PlayStation goals — they show how important a player I was in this team and I am honoured to have been celebrated this way. It never happened before in my whole life and 19 years as a professional.

“I was never celebrated like this. I don’t know how I feel now but I will get home and look at the video.”