Orlando Pirates coach Josef Zinnbauer have revealed that defender Bongani Sam will remain at the club, despite reports suggesting he is on his way out of the club.

The 22-year-old made his debut for the Soweto giant last weekend as the Buccaneers secured a comfortable 3-1 victory over Highlands Park at the Orlando Stadium.

However, Zinnbauer revealed that Sam was unaware that he was in the starting lineup against Highlands, whilst also praising Paseka Mako, who bagged his first goal of the campaign in the same game.

‘We did not say anything to him until we got to the stadium, he did not know that he would be playing,’ Zinnbauer told the media.

‘Sam is a young player and you need to be careful with him. We have been working with everyone, and him in individual sessions – we show him clips from these sessions and friendly games. I thought he had a good performance and we are happy about this.

‘The same goes for Mako too, and that is the thing that is good at the moment.

‘We have players wanting to break into the team and those that are in the team don’t want to be taken out. So, this is what is working now, and we have fun in training.’