‘Pirates rejected me’
After the turn of the new millennium, in the years when Raphael Chukwu’s struggles in Italy took him back and forth between Bari and Mamelodi Sundowns, there was a need to find a replacement for the Nigerian forward at Chlookop.
Plenty of signings were made as the club sought to find another forward with a similar frame who could play with his back to goals and be effective in the air.
By chance, a forward of Portuguese descent named Victor ‘Vitinho’ dos Santos found himself at Sundowns as a free agent after having last been on the books of Costa do Sol – the dominant Mozambican club of the early 2000s.
“Do you remember the late Sergio Simao? He was the guy who used to bring players from Mozambique to South Africa,” recalls Vitinho.
“He knew my contract was expiring at Costa do Sol, so he offered to bring me for pre-season in South Africa. He first took me to Orlando Pirates but after three training sessions Augusto Palacios didn’t like me, plus there were issues with the number of foreign
