Former Orlando Pirates winger Mohau Nkota has opened up on the lessons he is learning from ex-Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum at Al Ettifaq.
The Bafana Bafana star joined the Saudi Pro League side in July and arrived to fall into the hands of Wijnaldum, who is the team captain.
A UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, and FIFA Club World Cup winner, Wijnaldum is a decorated footballer with vast experience, having also been a former Netherlands international who claimed bronze at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The 34-year-old has also enjoyed a club career which saw him sharing the dressing room with Lionel Messi and Neymar at Paris Saint-Germain.
A star-struck Nkota asked the former Reds linkman how it was to be teammates with the globally acclaimed Messi and Neymar. “I once asked him – because I saw a picture of him, Messi, Mbappé, Neymar – I asked him: ‘What was it like to play with this guy [Messi]?'” Nkota told ESPN.
“[Wijnaldum] said to me: ‘Bro, I played at Liverpool, PSG. For me, it was just [about] going to play there and the discipline. People might talk, but just do your job and you’ll see [how far you can go].’ He’s a really good guy [Messi].”
NKOTA’S MERCURIAL RISE IN SAUDI
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Mohau Nkota: Picture by Al Ettifaq
After just a season playing top-flight league football at Bucs, the Kimberly-born player became a subject of transfer rumours and ended up in Saudi Arabia.
Now rubbing shoulders with a player like Wijnaldum, the move to Al Ettifaq is viewed as a stepping stone to Europe, the opposite trend of footballers who go to the Middle East in the twilight zone of their careers.
He has featured in three league games for Al Ettifaq and contributed a goal as he tries to establish himself as a key Bafana Bafana player ahead of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations [AFCON] finals.