Mamelodi Sundowns winger Thapelo Maseko feels he’s still ‘raw’ as a player due to his meteoric rise in professional football.
The 20-year-old won the African Football League top scorer and Player of the Tournament in the inaugural competition in which Sundowns won.
On Thursday evening, he added the Most Promising Player in the Cosafa region to his growing list of accolades but he sees major room for improvement.
“It’s a great honour, I’m grateful for the association for the recognition, it means a lot to me but yeah, overall as I said on the stage, the award is a testament to all the people who’ve been supporting me, my loved ones, coaches and fellow teammates,” Maseko said.
“The [AFL] was huge for me, it was my first continental club competition and kind of hard, physically but we managed to pull through and I performed at my level best.
“No chance [did I think my first season would be like this], honestly it’s unbelievable. I still believe I’m still a very raw player, things have been happening so quickly for me, one season MDC, one season in SuperSport in the professional ranks and then being signed by one of the best teams in Africa.
“So things have been going very fast for me, but I’m trying to adjust and be at my level best.”
Maseko has scored two goals with one assist in 24 games since joining Sundowns from rivals SuperSport United ahead of the 2023/24 season.