ORLANDO Pirates are set to conclude the signing of Maritzburg United captain Richard Ofori in the next coming days.
According to SunSport sources, negotiations are at an advanced stage after Bucs up their ante for one of their top targets in recent times.
This comes after the 26-year-old had another impressive season with the Team of Choice last season, keeping 11 clean sheets in 30 games in all competitions to see Maritzburg finished seventh on the table.
“We are in the final stages of negotiation with regards to Richard Ofori,” SunSport inside said.
“From where I’m standing, he’ll join Orlando Pirates.” Maritzburg are forced to cash in on the Ghanaian number goalie after exercising a one-year option in Ofori's contract in January this year. This means this coming season, Ofori is entering the final year of his contract.
If Maritzburg doesn’t cash in now, they are set to lose him for free at the end of this coming term. Also contractually, Ofori has a right to sign a pre-contract with any club of choice next year January as he’ll be left with six months in his deal.
As Ofori is now expected to conclude everything with Pirates, this means Bucs have defeated Mamelodi Sundowns again after signing Siphesihle Ndlovu and Fortune Makaringe last year.
Sundowns had inside track to sign Ofori in 2017 from Waa All-Stars in Ghana.
He was on trial at the Tshwane giants but they didn’t sign him before he went to Cape Town City.
While he was training with City in Cape Town, Maritzburg were alerted of him and quickly signed him on a three-year deal with an option to renew.
Ofori has markedly grown since then at Maritzburg. In his first season with the Midlands club, he helped the club to top-four finish, the highest ever position in the club’s history under Fadlu Davids, who is now an assistant coach at Pirates.
In that season, Maritzburg lost in the final of the Nedbank Cup final to Free State States. At the end of that season, Ofori was nominated for PSL Goalkeeper of the Season. This past and delayed season due to Covid-19 pandemic, Ofori was given the captaincy armband by coach Eric Tinkler and once again he was colossal in goals as Maritzburg again reach the Telkom Knockout final.
Unfortunately, they lost 2-1 to Sundowns. Based on his performances, Ofori is set to be one of the front runners for this season’s nomination for the goalkeeper of the season.
