Cape Town Spurs midfielder Keagan Buchanan has named a former free-kick specialist as the most underrated player in the Premier Soccer League (PSL).
Persistent, deadly from set-pieces and quietly effective, are some of the qualities associated with retired midfielder Jabulani Maluleke.
The now 41-year-old made 352 appearances in the top flight of South African football scoring 36 goals and providing 65 appearances.
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Surprisingly, Maluleke never donned the gold and green of Bafana Bafana and remains massively underrated, at least according to Buchanan, who never enjoyed playing against the versatile Maluleke.
"Jabu, probably Jabu Maluleke for me," Buchanan told kickoff.
"Every time I played against him he would be telling his players; 'close him, close him, don't give him space'.
"When he gets the ball then it's difficult and when I get the ball I'm trying to make my team play.
"He (Maluleke) was serially underrated. He was one of the best players to ever play in this league. He was the most underrated player in the PSL for me.
"I don't think he gets the recognition. He was a top-top professional and he played so many years as well. He never made a Bafana debut but such a good player.
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The former Kaizer Chiefs, Maritzburg United and AmaZulu midfielder also revealed several other names on his list of tough opponents. These included Teko Modise, Miguel Timm and Themba Zwane.
"For me, the tough opponents were never the hard-men, it was never people that were kicking me or trying to tackle me all the time. In my position, I try to control the game for my team and I always find it difficult against opponents who are doing the same.
"So over the years, it was always difficult to play obviously against Teko [Modise], everyone knows how good he was because Teko could control a game also.
"Jabu was very difficult to play against yoh! Jabu could control the game for his team and it's very difficult to try and control the game for your team when you are playing against someone like Jabu.
"Lastly, I played with Miguel Timm, as a youngster and as with many teams. He's tough to play against because he also controls the tempo for his team.
"Playing against someone like Mshishi [Themba Zwane] as well, Mshishi controls the game for his team, he controls the tempo. He's always on the ball. So, playing against those players was always tough.
having announced his retirement in February 2023, Maluleke has since taken up a role at SuperSport United as the club's Under 19s set-piece coach.
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