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Cape Town - Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane is confident that Rivaldo Coetzee will be worth every cent of what is believed to be a hefty price tag.
Until a failed medical ended a deal, Ajax Cape Town were set to sell the 20-year-old Bafana international to Glasgow Celtic for around R14m.
Local media reported that Sundowns paid in the region of R10m to sign the player on a five-year deal.
Mosimane claims to be unfazed by Coetzee's price tag and is confident the African champions will get value for their money from the Kakamas-born central defender, a regular in the Bafana Bafana side.
"When you have a 20-year-old playing for Bafana, whom you can see that the way he plays football for Ajax he can fit in your team and he is available, what do you do?
"Football is a game of moments. If he is available at that time, you have to take the chance. I know that I will have five centre-backs. I'm aware. Do you want to lose the chance of signing this 20-year-old?"
"Brendan Rodgers (Celtic coach) speaks so well about the boy because he has been watching his games.
"I ask myself, can he play Champions League? Of course he has been to Senegal and so many away games with the national team.
"We've never found a situation where we say the weakness is here and there. He is available and I can get him on the local market. You have to go for it. Of course, you are going to pay a little bit more," he was quoted saying by the Star.
Mosimane pointed to some of his former signings as what he feels is proof that top players are worth investing large sums of money in.
"When I was at SuperSport United, we paid R500 000 for Denis Masina. It took the whole budget. He came and he was unbelievable. He was 18 at that time. We sold him overseas after three years. It was worth it.
"I bought Teko Modise for R600 000 at City Pillars in the NFD. People were saying how can you spend so much on the player from the NFD? I drove myself to make the deal.
"I paid R650 000 for Patrick Mayo and the late Abraham Raselemane from Umtata Bucks. It was like paying R9 million at that time."
