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Pirates are considering handing Benni McCarthy the responsibility of
leading the Premiership giants as their next head coach.
After the sudden exit of Muhsin Ertugral in November due to the embarrassing 6-1 humbling at the hands of SuperSport United, Augusto Palacios has been in charge in a caretaker capacity.
And with constant speculation that the club may go towards a foreign manager once again, former Free State Stars trainer Giovanni Solinas and current Uganda coach Milutin Sredojevic have been listed as front-runners for the post.
Nonetheless, recent reports from local publication The Citizen claim that chairman Irvin Khoza would like to give the legendary Bafana Bafana striker the chance to prove himself at his former club.
"Khoza wanted to continue with local coaches, he sees that Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs are hanging on to their local mentors, and he wouldn’t want to be the odd one out. Benni is available and he knows the culture of the club," the publication reported.
The former Blackburn Rovers forward, the only South African to win the UEFA Champions League, holds a UEFA A license but his only coaching experience was a short assistant-manager role under Chris O'Loughlin at Belgian Pro outfit Sint-Truidense in the 2015/16 season.
However, former Buccaneer and Bafana team-mate Helman Mkhalele feels the 39-year-old will be up to the task.
"Yes, for me Benni is ready. He can definitely do the job as the Pirates head coach," he told Goal.
"Firstly, he gained an enormous amount of experience during his playing career. He was playing at the highest level. He also has the personality to lead and guide such a big team.
"Furthermore, he recently received his coaching qualification, which is one of the highest coaching qualifications available."
Popular Chippa United coach Dan Malesela is also in contention for the vacant Pirates post and has been rumoured to being considered for the post as Khoza favours a local coach who is familiar with the PSL.
