School of Excellence teen sensation attracts interest from Manchester United

SABC Sport has learnt that United is one of the teams that has enquired about Witbooi just a few weeks after he was part of the SA U16 team that took part in the UEFA development tournament in Poland. 

Dlangalala says Witbooi was one of the four players who earned rave reviews from the UEFA technical assessors after the tournament.

"When the UEFA observers mentioned four players that stood out there's no secret about it. It was Witbooi Amile, Kabelo Sibande, who plays for Clapham now, Lazola Maku who's at Ubuntu. These are the players that showed up in that event and also Bohloko Neo, who's at Kaizer Chiefs," he said.

Witbooi (15), the son of Mamelodi Sundowns flying winger Bradley Ralani has been described as a special attacking player who needs special attention going forward according to Dlangalala.

"He, like most South African kids that are talented, is very skillful and creative. He's the kind of player that I would wish as a country, he and many other players like him and they are many, we need to give them special treatment. We need to accept that some players are very special and different. Players like your Neymar, Messi, Ronaldinho will not be where they are if they were not given special treatment," he added.

During this U16 tournament in Poland, SA played and lost to the hosts, Northern Ireland and Luxembourg. 

Witbooi is just the latest find from School of Excellence, an institution that has been producing talented football players for close to three decades including the likes of former Bafana Bafana captain Steven Pienaar, Bernard Parker to current players like Keagan Dolly and Aubrey Modiba. 

Dlangalala says the schools’ operating model has always been an advantage.

"Without a doubt, we'd like to see more and more of that. As we know the school is traditionally known to produce that kind of talent. We scout all over the country and the players stay together. It's always an advantage. Even the team we played against, Northen Island, they have a national academy where that team and maybe other age groups stay together. It shows the importance and the value of giving special players and better talented ones the kind of environment they need," he concluded.