Orlando Pirates defender excited by Gilberto arrival

The Angola international joined the Soweto giants on a three-year deal from Petro de Luanda, on a reported R12 million fee, and featured in their pre-season tour in Spain. 

Monyane says he is excited by the recruitment of one of Angola’s popular figures.

"Gilberto is quite an exciting player, I can say. He's very skillful, very quick, and all I can say to the Buccaneers is that it's going to be an exciting season," said Monyane.

"Happy People once again should be happy, and you should expect a very exciting team. He's been there [to CAF competitions] and played there, and has a bit of experience ahead of some of the guys, so it's going to help us a lot.

"And the senior players are also going to push us, so we're really looking forward to moving forward as a team."

The 23-year-old attacker is one of two major signings Pirates have made so far, along with midfielder Selaelo Rasebotja – who joined on a free transfer from SuperSport United. 

Monyane believes they can do better than winning the MTN8 and Nedbank Cup double ahead of the 2024/25 season.

"Well, obviously with the new lads coming in, having to gel with the team also, all I can say is that there isn't anything so different – we're looking forward to actually competing," he said.

"And we don't want to repeat the mistakes we made last season because we know what happened in the CAF space, we bowed out very soon, and we're looking forward to going all the way and actually getting that second star."

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