John Comitis puts staggering price of more than R30m on in-demand Mayo

Cape Town City boss John Comitis has put a staggering price tag of more than R30m on in-demand striker Khanyisa Mayo to effectively close the door on a possible local transfer. 

Comitis confirmed that there were discussions with Mamelodi Sundowns but he wants the player, who scored 12 goals in 27 DStv Premiership games last season, to go overseas. 

“Mayo’s value is in excess of two million dollars in my opinion,” said bullish Comitis. 

“We are not going to compromise and sell ourselves short. He also deserves to go to a big club but we want to be patient and he understands that he possibly needs one more season with us. 

“If Mayo gets 15 goals this season, it is going to be the hardest thing to keep him in this country. We have had a lot of interest from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, but I think he deserves to go to Europe. He has that ability and mentality for it, so we are patient.” 

Comitis said they had had discussions with Mamelodi Sundowns about Mayo’s services. 

“Big clubs would like to have Mayo, we have had brief discussions with Mamelodi Sundowns. That’s why we never get any Sundowns players because the minute I ask for their player I have to sell one of mine to them. It’s a bit of a catch-22 situation. 

“Sundowns were obviously interested and there is a relationship with Kaizer Chiefs from the Mayo family. We know this but at the end of the day he was there for the picking when he was at Richards Bay and nobody saw what our technical team saw. 

“He is with us now and he is arguably the most marketable player in this league. He’s got a profile, he’s got the image, he’s got a swag about him, he puts the ball in the net — what else do you need?

“There are clubs that want to take him but we fight back and at least he is level-headed and he understood what he needs to achieve first here before he can make his move. 

“I certainly want to see him in Europe. We made it clear that we weren’t looking to offload him in this season. The club’s ambitions are a priority, we need to win silverware, we need to be taken seriously and be in the top four. 

“I have been placing players in Europe for different clubs that I have managed and owned. We get requests weekly from all over the globe for some of our players, perhaps they know that we are willing to sell.”