Pienaar could be Sunderland-bound
South African soccer fans will be left feeling disappointed by the news that Steven Pienaar looks set to opt for the English Premier League rather than the South African Premiership.
South African soccer fans will be left feeling disappointed by the news that Steven Pienaar looks set to opt for the English Premier League rather than the South African Premiership.
After his contract with Everton came to an end last season, former Ajax Cape Town, Ajax Amsterdam, Borussia Dortmund and Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Pienaar has spent the last few months back home in South Africa weighing up his options and had hinted that he may end his career in the local Premiership.
Media speculation, as well as some of Pienaar’s own comments and those made by Orlando Pirates chairman Irvin Khoza, suggested heavily that the former Bafana Bafana skipper could have been lining up a move to the Buccaneers.
“The idea of playing in [the Soweto Derby] game really appeals to me,” the Johannesburg-born playmaker told TMG Digital in the middle of June.
“It is, after all, the biggest game in South Africa. I have spoken to a lot of [Chiefs and Pirates] players and they go on about this game. And with me being an Orlando Pirates fan, it is obviously a game that interests me.”
Mamelodi Sundowns were also reportedly in with a shot at signing the 34-year-old midfielder, while the chairman of newly-promoted Baroka FC even tried his luck at tempting the player to the Limpopo Province.
But the lure of plying his trade alongside some of the world’s best footballers, and reuniting with former Everton manager David Moyes, now the Sunderland boss, has seen Pienaar returning to England; local media reports claiming that he is already training with the team at the club’s Academy of Light base.
Moyes, who has taken over at the Black Cats from recently-appointed England manager Sam Allardyce, is said to be looking to add players with considerable Premiership experience to his side as he tries to ensure that the club does not replicate last season when they came close to being relegated.
After his contract with Everton came to an end last season, former Ajax Cape Town, Ajax Amsterdam, Borussia Dortmund and Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Pienaar has spent the last few months back home in South Africa weighing up his options and had hinted that he may end his career in the local Premiership.
Media speculation, as well as some of Pienaar’s own comments and those made by Orlando Pirates chairman Irvin Khoza, suggested heavily that the former Bafana Bafana skipper could have been lining up a move to the Buccaneers.
“The idea of playing in [the Soweto Derby] game really appeals to me,” the Johannesburg-born playmaker told TMG Digital in the middle of June.
“It is, after all, the biggest game in South Africa. I have spoken to a lot of [Chiefs and Pirates] players and they go on about this game. And with me being an Orlando Pirates fan, it is obviously a game that interests me.”
Mamelodi Sundowns were also reportedly in with a shot at signing the 34-year-old midfielder, while the chairman of newly-promoted Baroka FC even tried his luck at tempting the player to the Limpopo Province.
But the lure of plying his trade alongside some of the world’s best footballers, and reuniting with former Everton manager David Moyes, now the Sunderland boss, has seen Pienaar returning to England; local media reports claiming that he is already training with the team at the club’s Academy of Light base.
Moyes, who has taken over at the Black Cats from recently-appointed England manager Sam Allardyce, is said to be looking to add players with considerable Premiership experience to his side as he tries to ensure that the club does not replicate last season when they came close to being relegated.
Pienaar and Moyes worked together at Everton between 2007 and 2011, and then again from 2012 until Moyes’ departure for Manchester United.