Mamelodi Sundowns star Rivaldo Coetzee has opened up about the day he thought of hanging up his boots for good.
The midfield engine was tipped for greatness; however, injury setbacks throughout his career disturbed his growth and progress.
This season, Coetzee is seemingly slowly getting back his groove despite suffering a minor injury which saw him miss six DStv Premiership games. He has featured in 19 games in all competitions this campaign, helping Sundowns win the inaugural African Football League [AFL].
Coetzee initially made his breakthrough at Ajax Cape Town, now known as Cape Town Spurs, in the 2014/15 PSL season at the age of 17, enjoying a meteoric rise to stardom.
His consistent performances at Ajax attracted interest from Scottish Premiership giants Glasgow Celtic, but the deal didn’t materialise. According to Coetzee, he almost gave up on his career when his move to Glasgow Celtic collapsed due to a failed medical.
After failing to secure a deal with Celtic, he joined Sundowns in the 2017/18 campaign, and the defensive midfielder has since made 115 appearances for the Tshwane giants with two goals and six assists to his name. In addition, he has won five league titles with the club.
RIVALDO COETZEE ALMOST QUIT FOOTBALL AFTER CELTIC DEAL COLLAPSED
“It’s still tough to talk about it even to this day. When you have such an opportunity to go to such a big club, for it to fall through at the last minute, I thought about quitting [playing football] after that,” Coetzee told PitchsidePodcast.
“I had already signed the contract. I spoke to the coach at that time, Brendan Rodgers. I spoke to him on the phone, and the conversation that we had, I could see myself using that as a stepping stone to go even further.
“He just gave me that confidence that I’m going to come in, and I’m going to play. I’m going to be big for him and the team.”
Coetzee says signing for Sundowns afterwards gave him hope in football again because, at Ajax, he would never recover from the heartbreak as the Tshwane giants are also a big team compared to The Urban Warriors.
“For it to fall through, I still don’t know exactly how I made it. But I also think when Sundowns came in, it helped a little bit to make it better.
“I think if I had to stay at Ajax [Cape Town], I wasn’t going to recover,” he added.
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