Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has given his verdict on the club’s new signing, Gilberto, ahead of the highly-anticipated 2024/25 season.
The highly-rated star joined the Buccaneers a few weeks ago from Angola giants Petro de Luanda on a three-year contract.
Gilberto attracted the interest of Pirates after his impressive performances for both Petro de Luanda and the Angolan national team.
In his one-season stay at Petro de Luanda, Gilberto featured in 13 appearances across all competitions. He scored fives goals and provided two assists to showcase his attacking abilities.
Meanwhile, the 23-year-old also played a crucial role for Angola in the 2023 AFCON in Ivory Coast, helping them reach the quarter-finals of the tournament.
Following his arrival at Pirates, Gilberto formed part of the squad that travelled to Spain for pre-season as the club looks to defend their MTN8 and Nedbank Cup titles. In addition, the Soweto giants will mount a challenge for league honours.
Gilberto played a handful of friendlies with the Soweto giants in Spain, and he has already introduced himself to the Bucs faithful with a goal in a friendly match against Spanish outfit Granada.
WHAT JOSE RIVEIRO SAY ABOUT GILBERTO?
Having proven to be one of the skilful players in the Pirates team, his new coach Jose Riveiro says Gilberto has settled very well in the group.
“I can tell you that he settled very well in the group; he’s a very open guy, and our group, in that sense, is very special. We have a lot of young players that have common things with Gilberto,” Riveiro said.
“We are all trying to help him, first of all, express himself on the field and try to get the best of his capacity. But at the same time, help him to feel comfortable and that’s something we are doing very well in my opinion.
“I don’t know what word to use for his personality but he had the capacity to attract his teammates to get their attention from the first day. He’s a humble guy; there’s zero complaints about his behaviour in these three to four weeks that he’s been around.”
Pirates will open the new campaign with a mouth-watering clash against SuperSport United in the 2024 MTN8 at Orlando Pirates on Saturday. Kick off is at 18h00.
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