South African midfielder Patrick "Tito" Maswanganyi has explained why he left Orlando Pirates in August, saying the decision was personal and was not caused by problems on the football side. He said he needed peace, fresh confidence and a new environment.

Maswanganyi spoke in an interview with the South African Football Journalists Association (SAFJA) on Monday night. He said he was the one who asked to leave, and that he had talked it over with the club's chairman for a long time. "I've always asked the chairman for me to leave the club because I felt like it was the right moment for me to leave, and we spoke about it for a very long time," he said.

The former Pirates fan favourite said he had been thinking about moving on for some time. In his view, the moment had come to step away from the pressure he had been feeling in South Africa and to find himself again as a player.

He said he wanted to get his confidence back and return to a place where he could enjoy football without feeling weighed down emotionally. There were times, he said, when he felt very low, and that made it hard to play with the freedom and belief he wanted. He felt that joining Al-Khaldiya in Bahrain would give him the chance to rebuild that confidence and become the player he knows he can be. "I needed to be in a space where I felt I could be myself again and also I needed peace," he said.

His exit came at a busy time for Pirates, who had also lost Relebohile Mofokeng and Sipho Mbule. Even so, Maswanganyi's comments make it clear that his own decision was a personal one. His priority was to find peace and rebuild his confidence in a new setting.

Source : https://x.com/MDNnewss/status/2120130849194611061/photo/1?s=19