Pirates warned over selling Mabasa to Sundowns

Former Orlando Pirates star Innocent Chikoya backs Tshegofatso Mabasa to emulate some of the club's prolific strikers from the past.

The Zimbabwean believes the Buccaneers have finally found a reputable goalscorer in the 27-year-old.

On Wednesday at Orlando Stadium, Mabasa bagged a brace in the Buccaneers' 2-0 win over Chippa United to take his goal tally to 15.

Mabasa, who is being linked with a Pirates exit, was also voted Man of the Match.

READ: Ofori in freaky fright at Pirates

Chikoya says it will not make any sense for the Soweto giants to allow Mabasa to leave the club after struggling for such a long time to find a proven goalscorer.

"There is no chance of the young man going," Chikoya tells KickOff.

"If you look at Pirates, they've been producing strikers over the years, and they've never allowed any of them to go, especially to a rival like Mamelodi Sundowns.

"How can you sell your best striker to a rival who's been winning the championship for seven years?

"What Mabasa is doing right now is not temporary, he was scoring goals at [Moroka] Swallows, and he is scoring goals at Pirates now.

"He is a natural, you can see he can score goals. He is not someone who tries to do fancy things, all he wants is to score goals, and this is not temporary.

"I'm not somebody who can give Pirates advice, but I think they know what they've got in Mabasa.

"Finally we've got somebody who can finish our chances. We usually create chances but don't score, but we've got a striker who can do that now.

"It's good and we are happy. We need the boy to prosper, we need him to continue making us happy.

"I think every player has got his ability in terms of scoring goals. There's those who've got the ability to score goals, then there are