Bafana Bafana defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi has caught the eye of many people at the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Morocco and coach Hugo Broos has reiterated going to the US is not the best move for his career. Mbokazi recently signed for Chicago Fire in the MLS and Broos said a player of his immense talent should be going to Europe to be tested regularly against better players. Just like he performed during the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers, Mbokazi has once again showed his quality against quality players of Angola and Egypt here at Afcon.
In the last match against a star-studded Egypt, Mbokazi was not intimidated by playing against players like Liverpool attacker Mohammed Salah or Omar Marmoush of Manchester City. Broos, who played a key role in the development of former Belgium and Manchester City captain and now Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany, said Mbokazi should follow his path. Kompany left Anderlecht in Belgium to play for Hamburg in Germany and later moved to City where he developed into a world class defender.
“Mbokazi should go to a bigger competition and by this I mean European competition,” Broos said. “Let’s say France or Spain [not Real Madrid or Barcelona], but a good Spanish team, and he will become better and better. He is already on a very good level and when he plays against better players, that will increase his quality.
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This is normal when you see the level he is on now.” Hugo Broos reiterates that Mbekezeli Mbokazi should be going to Europe.pic.twitter.com/Bc9VhgSluO “Don’t misunderstand me because I don’t want to compare him with Vincent Kompany, but I see the same things. Kompany was also confident at this age but he needed to go somewhere else to develop further. “The first two years he was at Hamburg in Germany where he learnt how to live and what attitude to have as a professional player. And then he went to City where he became a fantastic player.
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