South Africa-born midfielder May Mahlangu has broken his silence about his international future, declaring his intention to play for Bafana Bafana despite growing speculation that he will be offered Swedish citizenship.
Mahlangu – named the Swedish Player of the Year after a superb season with Helsingborgs IF where his club won everything on offer – is yet to play for South Africa which leaves him still eligible to play for another country.
While the Swedes are said to be apparently keen on handing him a Swedish passport next year, Mahlangu has revealed his intentions to play for his country of birth.
“I will really love to be a part of any national team that I am called for in the future. I am a proud South African and will always be willing to play for any national team. My heart is with South Africa,” said Mahlangu, according to Kickoff.com.
The 22 year-old also explains what led to him failing to link up with the national Under-23 team for the Olympic qualifying tournament in Morocco.”I was injured,” he said.
“What actually happened was that we played against the Swedish national team in a friendly following the completion of our season and I picked up a knee injury. The next day after having played that match, I heard that I had been called up to the national Under-23 squad though the club never said anything to me. It was an honour for me to get that call-up.
“I really wanted to honour the call-up and go on to play for the squad but with the injury that I had I knew that it was impossible because I didn’t want to force things.
“I was 60 per cent fit to play but I didn’t want to take risks because I had been told that I will need at least two weeks to recover from the injury. Even up to now I am still recovering from the injury. The club refused to release me based on my injury,” explained Mahlangu.