The rebirth of Relebohile Mofokeng in the second half of this season has been a revelation for club and country, writes Mazola Molefe.

Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou is convinced there are unmistakable signs of growth in Relebohile Mofokeng’s game, the kind that points to a player steadily climbing toward his full potential.

Having worked with the attacker for several months, Ouaddou has developed a clear blueprint for how to sharpen one of South Africa’s brightest talents.

His method is neither indulgent nor cautious. It is demanding.

“The only way to see him improve is to put him under pressure,” the Moroccan tactician said when asked whether there was still another level Mofokeng could reach, particularly with the World Cup on the horizon.

“With this kind of player, you need to create situations in training where he is under pressure. This is the only way to develop him,” Ouaddou explained.

“Because that is what you do with a player of his quality. He has a very low centre of gravity and needs to get used to making quick decisions.”

For Ouaddou, pressure is not punishment, it is preparation. Mofokeng’s slight frame makes him elusive in tight spaces, but modern football demands more than flair. It requires speed of thought.

By compressing space in training sessions and forcing rapid decision-making, the coach believes he is conditioning the 21-year-old for the unforgiving tempo of elite competition.

The timing could not be more significant. Earlier this season, Mofokeng appeared to be wobbling.

A dip in form, compounded by minor surgery to address a lingering injury, saw him briefly fall out of rhythm and his struggles did not go unnoticed.

Hugo Broos publicly challenged the young attacker to raise his standards or risk missing out on the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco at the time.

A stern warning but one that seemed to ignite a response. Mofokeng regained momentum at just the right moment, doing enough to convince the Bafana mentor he remained integral to the national setup.

And when he returned from continental duty, he did so with renewed authority.

With the World Cup looming, the forward has picked up where he left off, named Player of the Month for January and February after delivering a string of influential performances, scoring, assisting and dictating play as Pirates pushed to stay in contention in the Betway Premiership title race.

What has also caught the eye is Ouaddou’s tactical tweak.

Under former coach José Riveiro, who handed Mofokeng his debut in January 2023, the youngster operated primarily from wide areas.

Ouaddou, however, has increasingly deployed him in a more central No.10 role.

“He is a clever player,” the coach said.

“Rele can play two or three positions in modern football and cannot only be used on the side. I believe he is very efficient when he plays as a 10 because he has 360 degrees of possibilities to play. But when we put him on the side he has only 160 degrees of possibility because there is the touchline.”

It is a simple but revealing assessment.

In central spaces, Mofokeng is liberated, free to turn, combine and slip passes in any direction while geometry limits him on the flanks.

The positional shift has added layers to his game meaning he is no longer just a dribbler isolating full-backs, he has become a conductor between the lines, knitting phases together and drifting into pockets where defenders hesitate to follow.

Yet Ouaddou is mindful of balance. “But we have to manage the team and we have to manage the players as well,” he cautioned.

“There are impact players on the bench, so sometimes you make combinations.”

The message is clear: Mofokeng may be central to the project, but he is not the entire project. Pirates cannot afford to overload a youngster with excessive responsibility, particularly with a demanding domestic and international calendar ahead.

There is also the risk of overcomplicating his role.

“We have moved him around sometimes and when you do that, a player can get a little bit unsettled because it is too many times,” Ouaddou admitted.

“Maybe we have to think and stabilise him in at least one position during the game, even though I allow him to move around when he plays with Oswin Appollis.”

Mobility remains one of Mofokeng’s strongest assets.

He can drift wide, drop deep or dart behind the defensive line.

That unpredictability makes him difficult to mark, and invaluable in high-stakes matches.

It also explains why he has quickly become one of the poster figures of Bafana’s World Cup campaign, where South Africa will face co-hosts Mexico, South Korea and the winner of the European play-off.

The global stage will bring exactly the kind of pressure Ouaddou believes is necessary for growth.