Orlando Pirates star player Thembinkosi Lorch has opened up on why his form has dipped. I thought it may have been because he has played a lot of football between Bafana Bafana and Orlando Pirates. Or maybe because after winning almost every individual award last season, being hailed as Moses Lorch, and having a song named after him, he could be suffering from ‘I Am The Shit syndrome’. This sickness has effected a lot of players, from Jabu Pule to Teko Modise. He, however, points out the reason he isn’t at his best is because of something else:
“I think I’ve done my thing in Mzansi. I’ve won the player of the season, I went to AFCON, and even there I played well,” Lorch told KickOff.
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“But like I said before, I’m still hurt for not going overseas. The likes of Percy Tau left after becoming player of the season, a lot of players left… so I expected the same thing to happen to me.
“Even now I still feel the pain you know. Ja, I won’t hide it. You know that it affected my form big-time, because I saw myself playing overseas this season, and I was prepared to go and play overseas.
“It’s my dream to play overseas, but I still believe my dream will come true. It’s God who knows. I must just not give up. So I wish a right offer comes.”
Asked if he ever approached Pirates management regarding a possible move over seas, Lorch added: “Ja I did that, I talked to them. So they suggested we wait for a right offer. So I don’t know what kind of an offer is a right offer, but it did affect me big-time.
“Even now I still feel this pain in my heart you see, and I don’t think it’s something that is going to end soon.
“For now it still hurts you see, especially when I see the likes of [Marshall] Munetsi playing overseas [for Reims]. It really pains me.”
‘The right offer’
We’ve heard this term many times. Especially at Orlando Pirates. It seems as though, unlike Europe, where star players have a little bit of a say on their future (see: How Neymar bullied his way out of Barcelona) in South Africa the clubs hold all the power.
We’ve heard from players like Teko Modise lamenting Orlando Pirate’s refusal to let him take his talents overseas. Did Thembinkosi Lorch ask for buy out clauses before signing? Do these players and their agents find other ways to have their contracts more beneficial to them?
It appears as though our players aren’t willing to educate themselves on their contract and how they are structured. Orlando Pirates or any other PSL club are running a business. It may not be in their best interest to let go of their star players without a fair price. It’s the responsibility of the player to let their agents know what they want to be negotiated in their contract before they sign them.