Tokelo Rantie of South Africa during the AFCON Qualifier match between South Africa and Mauritania 02 September 2016 at Mbombela Stadium Pic Sydney Mahlangu/ BackpagePix
Former Bafana Bafana striker Tokelo Rantie turns up at TTM
Former Bournemouth striker Tokelo Rantie is on trial at Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila with a view to reviving his career at the struggling Limpopo club.
Tokelo Rantie of South Africa during the AFCON Qualifier match between South Africa and Mauritania 02 September 2016 at Mbombela Stadium Pic Sydney Mahlangu/ BackpagePix
The travels and trials of former Bafana Bafana striker Tokelo Rantie have taken him to Thohoyandou for a tryout with Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM).
The club have confirmed that the 30-year-old striker has offered his services and that he is being trialled but say that Rantie had yet to train with the side.
Tokelo Rantie turns up at TTM
Rantie is being assessed by TTM, who are bottom of the DStv Premiership having gathered just nine points in 12 matches.
“Ya he’s back, he’s around saying he wants to resume his career,” TTM media officer Livhuwani Madzuhe told Kickoff.com.
“So we are assessing him. He’s been here since yesterday. He has not yet started training. I think today they are going to train in the afternoon.”
Rantie has been without a club since being released by Mamelodi Sundowns in January 2020.
Sundowns cited ill-discipline as the motivation for his release with Rantie reportedly going AWOL from Chloorkop.
Rantie was prviously released by Cape Town City in December 2019 after he ‘failed to knuckle down’ in training due to off-field distractions. He played 40 matches for Bafana Bafana scoring 13 goals and was for some time arguably the best South African forward before he fell out with former coach Shakes Mashaba and then Stuart Baxter.
The striker had been rumoured to an attempt at reviving his career in Eswatini with Mbabane Highlanders.
Former Bafana Bafana coach Ephraim ‘Shakes’ Mashaba believed that Rantie had found himself effectively blacklisted after mutliple indiscretions.
The striker’s problems appeared to begin when he signed for Genclerbirligi in Turkey. The club would later also release him after he absconded, not only being absent from training but leaving Turkey altogether.
“If he gets a contract, that’s an opportunity to redeem himself. Well, we heard about the shenanigans that have been going on you know, I was also hurt to see a professional player like Rantie abscond and not report for duty [at Genclerbirligi in Turkey],” Mashaba said in December 2020.
“I think that’s the worst, and the most serious thing. When he was at his top form, he absconded, and I think it killed him a lot.”
