Wydad Casablanca winger Thembinkosi Lorch could return to Orlando Pirates if Rulani Mokwena takes over as head coach.
Mokwena is in pole position to take over from Jose Riveiro as Bucs coach after the Spaniard left for Al Ahly last month. Lorch joined Mokwena at Wydad but the 38-year-old coach’s time in Morocco was cut short after the club decided to terminate his contract.
Lorch and Rulani worked at Orlando Pirates briefly in 2019 before the 31-year-old former Bafana Bafana star rejoined the Soweto born coach at Mamelodi Sundowns five years later.
“Lorch has the talent, and we all know that,” Mokwena told iDiski Times.
“He’s a player I like a lot for the final third because he has a lot of weapons. When he’s at his best, he influences the result”.
“His adaptation has been gradual. I think he should be scoring more, and I told him this. We worked on certain movements and situations, and he knows how to finish and find the spaces around the box.”
Lorch spent nearly a decade at Orlando Pirates
Although Mokwena has not touched much on his potential return to Pirates, he admitted he would be open to join the Soweto giants. Regarding Lorch, the ex-Downs coach highlighted the winger’s weakness.
“The legs don’t allow for movements from deeper areas that then place greater physical demands on making movements towards the box. This is why he needs to be a bit more patient in movement, receiving the ball, and arriving in spaces than earlier in his career,” Mokwena explained.
“In recent friendlies, Wydad’s adjustments are evident—more structured in a mid- to low block without possession, and him having to defend the wide channel on the left makes him play further away from the box because he has to defend closer to [Ayoub] Boucheta in this role and assist [El Mehdi] Moubarik and [Mickael] Malsa or [Ismail] Moutaraji in protecting the left half space and extending the midfield line to protect zone 14,” he said.
Lorch returning to Orlando Pirates might happen if Mokwena takes over. The 38-year-old coach is a big fan of Nyoso.
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