Orlando Pirates Star Patrick Maswanganyi Edges Closer to Exit

Orlando Pirates star Patrick “Tito” Maswanganyi is edging closer to the exit door, with the Soweto giants understood to have virtually wrapped up talks with an unnamed Asian Football Confederation club over a move for the 28-year-old.

The deal has gathered real momentum in the past few days. Maswanganyi’s absence from the matchday squad at Old Peter Mokaba Stadium raised the first red flag, as Pirates ground out a 1–0 win over Sekhukhune United in the first leg of their semifinal, thanks to a strike from veteran Deon Hotto.

Coach Abdeslam Ouaddou put any injury doubts to bed after the game, confirming Maswanganyi was fully fit. That revelation only intensified speculation that negotiations over his future were at an advanced stage.

Pirates signed Maswanganyi from SuperSport United in 2023, and he wasted no time becoming a cult figure in Orlando. Sharp between the lines, brave on the ball and relentless without it, “Tito” played a central role as the Buccaneers finally ended their long league-title drought last season, knocking Mamelodi Sundowns off their perch to claim a first championship since 2012.

Given that impact, it seemed Pirates had already paid their big price in this transfer window when they sanctioned the sale of Relebohile Mofokeng. The reigning Footballer of the Year left for Belgian topflight side Union Saint-Gilloise shortly after the FIFA World Cup, a move that already forced a recalibration of the squad’s attacking identity.

Yet the outflow has not stopped. The club have also confirmed the departure of right-back Deano van Rooyen after two years in black and white. Now Maswanganyi, who had featured in every fixture leading up to the trip to Polokwane, appears to be the next headline name heading for the door.

If the move is completed, it will not be Maswanganyi’s first taste of life abroad. As a teenager he left the renowned Stars of Africa Academy for Portugal, spending several formative years there and sharpening the technical edge that has defined his game back home.

On the international stage, he owns four Bafana Bafana caps but has endured a brutal run of near-misses. He was overlooked for the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco at the start of the year and also missed out on the World Cup, slipping down the national-team pecking order just as competition for attacking places intensified.

Now, with a prime-age playmaker seemingly on his way to Asia and Pirates already reshaping after losing their league-winning core, the real question is simple: how many more pillars can the Buccaneers remove before the whole structure starts to sway?