da bet7： Tottenham raised a few eyebrows with the signing of relatively unknown defender Bongani Khumalo. The South African was one of the home nation’s stars at the World Cup and was offered a trial at the club. Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp was suitably impressed and the 23 year old will move to Tottenham when the transfer window opens again in January.
da heads bet： Khumalo was born in Swaziland to South African parents and moved to back to South Africa when he was 2. He settled in Mamelodi near Pretoria and started playing for local club Arcadia Shepherds, a historically white club who can count QPR and Coventry striker Roy Wegerle and Aston Villa’s European Cup goalscorer Peter Withe as former players.
He started his senior career in 2005 playing for the University of Pretoria who play in the second tier of South African football despite being a university team. After two years with Pretoria, Khumalo earned a move to Premier Soccer League club SuperSport United where he has been an integral part of SuperSport’s success with the club winning three league titles in Khumalo’s three years at the club.
His performances for Matsatsantsa earned him the captain’s armband in his second season and he has held the honour ever since.
His impressive displays for SuperSport caught the eye of South Africa’s World Cup boss Carlos Alberto Parreira who started Khumalo in all three of Bafana Bafana’s matches. He formed a solid partnership with captain Aaron Mokoena and managed to score South Africa’s opening goal against France with a header from a Siphiwe Tshabalala corner.
As shown by his goal against France, Khumalo is a dominant aerial presence and brings a physicality that is ideally suited to life in the Premier League. He has outstanding leadership skills and maturity having been made captain of SuperSport at such a young age. He brings a winning mentality to the Tottenham dressing room and a hunger to prove himself at the highest level of European football.
Tottenham fans will be hoping that Khumalo won’t be a repeat of Tottenham’s other South African Mbulelo Mabizela who had a number of disciplinary problems in a short spell at White Hart Lane.
However, Khumalo looks like a grounded individual and it would be a huge surprise if he turned out the same way as Mabizela given his maturity at such a young age.
Khumalo’s move to White Hart Lane is due to a partnership agreement between SuperSport United and Tottenham and his move to London will hopefully be the start of a fruitful partnership between Spurs and SuperSport in the years to come.
Khumalo’s arrival is a welcome boost to a Spurs backline that is currently ravaged by injury. Michael Dawson and Jonathan Woodgate are long-term absentees and Ledley King is constantly hampered by knee problems.
Harry Redknapp has only spent £1.5 million on Khumalo and in today’s climate and with Tottenham’s defensive needs, he could prove to be something of a bargain.
What do you think of Khumalo’s signing?
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